MEMORIAL  VOLUME 


OF    THE 


FIRST   FIFTY   YEARS 


OF    THE 


AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS 
FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


<4/ 


"  Large  designs,  systematic  and  vigorous  exertions,  humble  dependence  on  God,  and  entire 
cousecration  to  the  work,  should  characterize  all  our  enterprises  for  the  salvation  of  this 
revolted  world." — KESOLVE  OF  THE  BOARD,  1835. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED     BY    THE    BOARD. 

MISSIONARY  HOUSE,  33  PEMBERTON  SQUARE. 
1861. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1861,  by  the 

AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS  FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


ELECTROTYPE!)    AT    T  H  K 
BOSTON    STEREOTYPE    FOUNDRY. 


PRINTED    BY 
GEO.  C.  RAND    AND   AVERY. 


BY 
2.360 


d 


PREFACE. 


THE  issue  of  a  Memorial  Volume  by  the  Board,  at 
co  the  end  of  its  first  half-century,  seemed  a  thing  of 

fTT  • 

«*  course  —  almost  as  much  as  that  of  a  Report  at  the 
«|  close   of  the   year.     The   only  serious   question  was, 

CD 

^3   how  to   produce  the  volume.     It  must  obviously  be 
5JP    prepared  by  one  intimately  acquainted  with  the  con- 
N    stitution  of  the  Board,  its  missions  and  agencies,  and 
the  modifications  that  have  taken  place  in  its  policy 
and  proceedings.  But  how  could  either  of  the  Sec- 
retaries,   already  occupied    to    the    extent    of   their 
x 

o  ability,  perform  such  an  additional  service?  It  was 
jji  decided,  however,  by  the  Prudential  Committee,  that 
the  work  ought  to  be  done,  and  that  it  ought  to 
devolve  on  the  senior  Secretary,  he  having  been 
thirty-eight  years  connected  with  the  correspondence. 
As  the  subjects  were  familiar  to  him,  he  felt  it  to  be 

his  duty  to  undertake  the  work,  even   at  a  consid- 
er 


iv  PREFACE. 

erable  risk  of  health.  By  adding,  for  a  few  months, 
under  the  pressure  of  the  emergency,  to  the  usual 
hours  of  daily  labor  —  presuming  that  the  missions 
would  acquiesce,  meanwhile,  in  receiving  fewer  and 
briefer  letters  from  the  Missionary  House;  and  with 
such  aid  as  he  might  receive  from  associates  in  the 
ordinary  duties  of  his  department,  and  from  them 
and  others  in  the  preparation  of  the  volume,  it 
was  supposed  he  might  complete  the  work  in  time 
for  its  publication  within  the  year.  Through  the 
favor  of  Providence,  this  has  been  done ;  and  in  a 
manner,  it  is  hoped,  considering  the  circumstances, 
to  secure  the  indulgence  of  the  Christian  public. 

The  reader  will  naturally  turn  first  to  the  Histor- 
ical Discourse,  by  the  President  of  the  Board,  which 
contributed  so  largely  to  the  interest  of  the  Jubilee 
Meeting.  A  considerable  part  of  the  volume  will  be 
found  more  or  less  illustrative  of  the  doctrines  and 
principles  of  that  discourse.  Those  well  informed 
in  religious  biography,  will  at  once  perceive  the 
hand  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sprague,  of  Albany,  in  the  com- 
prehensive and  truthful  sketches  of  the  Founders  of 
the  Board,  forming  one  of  the  chapters ;  and  this 
generous  contribution  to  the  work  is  very  gratefully 
acknowledged.  For  the  admirable  analysis  and  phil- 


PREFACE.  V 

osophical  views  of  the  literature  of  the  Board  and 
of  its  Missions,  forming  one  of  the  chapters  in  the 
second  series,  the  volume  is  indebted  to  the  Eev. 
Joseph  Tracy,  D.  D.,  author  of  the  History  of  the 
Board  in  its  first  thirty  years. 

The  work  has  been  performed  under  a  deep  sense 
of  responsibility  for  the  accuracy  of  every  statement 
Very  little  has  been  taken  on  trust  The  chapter  on 
the  difficulties  experienced  in  procuring  the  charter 
of  the  Board,  is  an  original  contribution  to  its  his- 
tory ;  and  the  author  was  much  indebted  to  the 
aid  of  the  Hon.  Charles  T.  Russell,  of  Boston,  in  the 
discoveries  —  for  such  they  are  to  the  present  gener- 
ation—  that  were  made  in  the  archives  of  the  State 
of  Massachusetts.  The  chapters  on  the  constitution 
of  the  Board,  its  relations  to  ecclesiastical  bodies,  its 
meetings,  correspondence,  finances,  agencies,  missiona- 
ries, churches,  schools,  deputations,  etc.,  were  all  the 
result  of  careful  investigation. 

Thanks  are  due  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thompson,  of 
Roxbury,  and  to  the  Rev.  Isaac  R.  Worcester,  editor 
of  the  Board's  monthly  publications,  for  their  judi- 
cious criticism,  extended  to  nearly  the  entire  work; 
and  also  to  associates  in  office,  for  their  counsel 
and  aid.  But  for  the  accuracy  of  the  multiplied 


vi  PREFACE. 

statements  and  opinions,  it  is  obvious  that  neither 
they,  nor  the  Prudential  Committee,  can  be  held 
strictly  responsible. 

This  volume  is  the  first  of  its  kind.  Other  Socie- 
ties may  be  expected,  in  their  order,  to  make  similar 
contributions  to  the  stock  of  missionary  experience. 
Should  many  of  the  facts  here  embodied  strike  the 
reader  as  not  new,  he  will  at  least  see  them  for  the 
first  time  in  their  natural  combinations.  The  author's 
prayer  is,  that  this  Memorial  Volume,  which  he  re- 
gards as  among  the  closing  labors  of  his  somewhat 
protracted  official  life,  may  be  accepted  by  the  Head 
of  the  Church,  and  blessed  to  the  extension  of  his 
kingdom. 

RUFUS  ANDEESON. 

MISSIONARY  HOUSE,  BOSTON, 
August,  1861. 


CONTENTS. 


PAOB 

THE  JUBILEE  MEETING 1 

DR.  HOPKINS'S  HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE 11 


THE     BOARD. 

CHAPTER    I. 
ORIGIN   OF   THE   BOARD. 

Immediate  Occasion  of  its  Formation.  —  Society  of  "  The  Brethren."  —  The  Memo- 
rialists. —  Author  of  the  Memorial.—  Samuel  J.  Mills.  —  Gordon  Hall.— Influ- 
ence of  the  Andover  Seminary.  —  Response  of  Leading  Men  in  the  Churches.  — 
Institution  of  the  Board.  —  Who  first  suggested  the  Idea.  —  Remoter  Influences. 
—  Mr.  Judson's  Visit  to  England,  and  its  Result. —  State  of  the  Times.  —  Hall's 
Letters  from  Philadelphia.  —  Mr.  Rice.  —  Ordination  of  the  First  Missionaries.  — 
Previous  Misgivings  of  the  Prudential  Committee 41 

CHAPTER   II. 

REMINISCENCES. 

Reference  to  Missionary  Histories.  —  Recollections  at  the  Jubilee  Meeting.  —  Rev. 
John  Keep's  Recollections.  —  Recollections  of  Rev.  Samuel  Nott.  —  Recollec- 
tions of  Dr.  Porter.  — Dr.  Worcester's  Retrospective  Address 50 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  CHARTER  AND  THE  LEGISLATURE. 

Difficulties  in  obtaining  a  Charter.  —  Occasion  of  them.  —  The  Petition.  —  In  the 
House  of  Representatives.  —  Provisions  of  the  Charter.  —  Proposed  Amendment 
and  its  Object.  —  A  Salem  Shipmaster.  —  Defense  by  Mr.  Morris.  —  The  Bill 

(vii) 


viii  CONTENTS. 

fails.— Next  Legislature.  —  Charter  voted  by  the  House.  — Opposed  in  the  Sen- 
ate. —  Mr.  White's  Reply.  —  Rejected.  —  Claimed  by  the  House.  —  Disagreement 
in  Conference.  —  Passed  in  Senate,  with  Amendments.  —  Amendments  rejected 
by  the  House.—  Mr.  Crowninshield.  —  Charter  granted.  —  Spirit  of  the  Times.  — 
Charter  concurred  in  by  Patrons.— Its  Value 71 

CHAPTER    IV. 
CONSTITUTION   AND   MEMBERSHIP. 

Object  of  the  Board.  —  Range  of  its  Duties.  —  Not  a  State  Institution.  —  At  first 
Congregational.  —  Proposal  to  the  General  Assembly.  —  Assembly's  Reasons  for 
not  forming  a  Separate  Organization.  —  The  Board  ceases  to  be  Denominational. 

—  Becomes  National. —  The  Founders — Officers.  —  Corresponding  Members. — 
Honorary  Members.  —  Number  of  Members. —  In  each  State.  —  In  Foreign  Lands. 

—  Summary.  —  Duties  of  Prudential  Committee —  Working  Capacity  of  the 
Board.  —  Wide  Range  of  its  Meetings.  —  Attendance  of  Members.  —  Identity  of 

its  Meetings.— Its  Hold  on  the  Affections  of  its  Patrons 79 

CHAPTER    V. 
RELATIONS   TO   ECCLESIASTICAL   BODIES. 

Relations  to  Contributors  and  to  Missionaries.  —  To  Ecclesiastical  Bodies —  By  the 
Elements  of  its  Existence.  —  By  Formal  Recognitions.  —  By  Donations  from 
Churches.  —  By  Resolutions,  and  other  Formal  Acts  of  General  Associations, 
Synods,  and  Assemblies —  General  Assembly  in  1825  and  1831.  —  General  Synod 
of  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church.  —  Compact  of  1832.  —  How  understood, 
and  the  Effect.  —  Minute  of  Prudential  Committee.  —  Objections  to  the  Plan.  — 
Letter  to  General  Synod.  —  Synod's  Response,  and  subsequent  Proposal.  —  Mu- 
tual Conviction.  —  The  Compact  dissolved.  —  How  the  Connection  with  Mission- 
aries was  dissolved.  —  Mutual  Tokens  of  Respect.  —  Western  Foreign  Missionary 
Society. —  Old  School  General  Assembly's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. —  The 
New  School  Presbyterians.  —  Ecclesiastical  Relations.  —  A  Second  Statement.  — 
Embarrassment  of  Prudential  Committee.  —  Explanatory  Resolve.  —  The  Board 
not  an  Ecclesiastical  Body.  —  Has  no  Ecclesiastical  Powers.  —  No  Effect  on  the 
Ecclesiastical  Relations  of  its  Missionaries.  —  Scope  for  the  two  Bodies.  —  The 
Board  not  a  Voluntary  Association.  —  The  Practical  Working 88 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE    FOUNDERS. 

Founders  impart  a  Character  to  their  Institutions.  —  Who  were  the  Founders  of 
the  Board.  — From  different  Communities,  States,  and  Professions.  —  Presidents 
of  Colleges  and  Professors  in  Theological  Seminaries.  —  Other  eminent  Minis- 
ters of  the  Gospel.  —  Eminent  Civilians .  IQJ 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER   VII. 
MEETINGS    OF   THE   BOARD. 

The  Earlier  Meetings.  —  Where  held.  — In  what  Buildings.  — Attendance.  — North- 
ampton, 1825.— New  York,  1827.  — The  Lord's  Supper.  —  Boston,  1830.—  Phila- 
delphia, 1841. —  The  Meeting  held  under  Excitement  of  a  Debt. —  Of  Extraor- 
dinary Interest  and  Influence.  —  Treasurer's  Statement.  —  Mr.  Hubbard's  Speech. 

—  Mr.   Greene's  Speech.  —  Session  prolonged.  —  Affecting  Scene.  —  The   Roll 
called,  and  Members  pledge  themselves.  —  The  Assembly  testifies  its  Sympathy. 

—  Special  Meeting  at  New  York,  1842 —  Results  of  the  Pledges.  —  Meeting  at 
Norwich,  1842.  —  Rochester,  1843.— Dr.  Chapin's   Letter. —Worcester,  1844.— 
Brooklyn,  1845.— First  Vote  by  Yea  and  Nay.— Other  Cases.  —  Boston,  1848.— 
Mr.  Greene's  Letter.—  Pittsfield,  1849.  —  Cincinnati,  1853.  — Attendance  of  Mem- 
bers. —  Tendency  westward.  —  Hartford,  1854.  —  Mr.  Hill's  Letter.  —  Special  Meet- 
ing, 1856.—  Mr.  Frelinghuysen's  Letter 12« 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  PRUDENTIAL  COMMITTEE  — PLACES  OF  BUSINESS. 

Members.  —  Constitution  of  the  Body.  —  Growth  of  the  Meetings.  —  Attendance  of 
Executive  Officers.  —  Manner  of  doing  Business. — Duties  of  the  Committee. — 
Place  of  Business,  1821.— Pressure  of  Duties.  —  Place  of  Business,  1822.— New 
Laborers.  —  Place  of  Business,  1826.  —  Destroyed  by  Fire.  —  Place  of  Business, 
1830.  —  The  Missionary  House.  —  Its  Cost  and  Advantages 145 

CHAPTER  IX. 
CORRESPONDENCE  —  LIBRARY — CABINET. 

Early  and  Later  Correspondence.  —  Postage.  —  Manuscript  Volumes.  —  Copying  of 
Letters.  —  Advantage  of  this  Practice.  —  Freedom  of  the  Correspondence.  — 
Responsibilities  of  the  Secretaries. —  Instructions  to  Missionaries.  —  Number  of 
Secretaries.  — Library  of  the  Board.— Missionary  Cabinet. .  rm-Ti-»-»-v/'.  .  .  151 

CHAPTER  X. 
THE  FINANCES. 

Obtaining  Funds  the  greatest  Difficulty. —  Means  employed. — Worth  of  an  Exi- 
gency.—  Striking  Fact.  —  Receipts  in  Periods  of  Four  Years.  — In  Periods  of  Ten 
Years. — General  Summary.  —  Whence  derived. — Gradual  Increase. —  Expendi- 
ture in  Periods  of  Four  Years.  — Comparative  View.— The  Expenditure  almost 
necessarily  Progressive.  —  Influence  of  Faith  on  Missionary  Confidence.  —  On  the 

b 


x  CONTENTS. 

Cost  of  the  Missions.— Limitation  necessary.—  Dissent  of  Missionaries.— Duty 
and  Powers  of  the  Prudential  Committee.  — Estimates  and  Appropriations.— 
New  Responsibilities.  —  On  the  Cost  of  the  several  Agencies.  —  Remittances.  — 
Investments.— Permanent  Funds.  —  Indebtedness,  and  the  Responsibility  for  it. 
— Not  prevented  by  Ruinous  Reductions 158 

CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  AGENCIES. 

The  Two  Branches.— Agents  early  hi  the  Half-Century.  —  Growth  of  System.— 
Brookfleld  Auxiliary.  —  Laws  of  Benevolent  Giving.  —  Productiveness  of  Agen- 
cies. —  Organizing  of  Associations  and  Auxiliaries. — A  Model  Collector.  —  Causes 
of  Decline  in  Associations.  —  Missionaries  as  Agents.  —  Action  of  the  Board  on 
Deputations  to  Auxiliary  Meetings.  —  General  Agents.  —  District  Secretaries. — 
Proper  Sphere  of  Agencies.  —  Cost  of  the  Agents.  —  Home  Publications  of  the 
Board,  and  their  Cost.  — Cost  of  the  Two  Branches  of  Agency 177 

CHAPTER  XII. 
RELATIONS  TO  GOVERNMENTS. 

Massachusetts  and  the  Charter.  —  English  Admiral  in  the  War  with  England.  —  The 
"  Alligator." — East  India  Company —  Charles  Grant.  —  Sir  Evan  Nepean  and  the 
Effective  Appeal.  —  Relations  of  American  Missionaries  to  their  own  Govern- 
ment.— Not  affected  by  the  Nature  of  their  Mission,  nor  by  their  Circumstances 
and  Relations.  —  Dispatch  of  Daniel  Webster  declaring  the  Equal  Rights  of  Mis- 
sionaries.—  Subsequent  Declarations.  —  Government  of  Holland.  —  Netherlands 
India. — French  Government.  —  Result  as  regards  Supreme  Governments,  and  as 
regards  Local  Governors,  Embassadors,  Consuls,  and  other  Officials.  —  Duty  of 
Praying  for  Governments 195 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE  DECEASED  SECRETARIES. 

Dr.  Worcester.  — Mr.  Evarts.  — Dr.  Cornelius.  — Dr.  Wisner.  — Dr.  Armstrong.  .  .   206 


CONTENTS.  xi 


THE    MISSIONS. 

CHAPTER  I. 
THEIR  CONSTITUTION  AND  ORIGIN. 

What  constitutes  a  Mission.— Stations  and  Outstations.  —  Natives  not  Members  of 
Missions. — Relations  of  Missionaries  to  the  Native  Churches.  —  Territorial  Extent 
of  Missions.  —  The  Missions  conformed  to  the  Habits  of  the  American  People. — 
Their  Responsibility.  —  Origin  of  the  Missions.  —  Missions  in  India. — Religious 
Destitution  of  India. — Missions  to  Western  Asia.  —  Instructions  to  the  first  Mis- 
sionaries. —  Growth  of  the  Enterprise 225 

CHAPTER  II. 
ORIGIN  OF  THE  MISSIONS,  CONTINUED. 


Missions  to  the  Islands  of  the  Pacific.—  Missions  to  Africa.  — Missions  to  China.— 
Missions  to  the  North  American  Indians 234 


CHAPTER  III. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MISSIONS  — THEIR  LAWS  OF  GROWTH 
—  THEIR  COMPLETION. 

Object  of  Missions  to  plant  the  Gospel  Institutions.  —  Apostolical  and  Modern 
Missions.  —  Development  in  Preaching  and  Schools.  —  Missions  necessarily  Pro- 
gressive.—Evidences  of  Progress.  —  Progress  essential  to  their  Prosperity.— 
Consequences  of  disregarding  this  Law.  —  Early  Preeminence  given  to  Preaching. 
—  Schools  and  the  Press.  —  Subordinate  Agencies  falling  into  their  Places.  —  How 
the  Work  may  be  completed.  —  An  Unsettled  Problem.  —  Difficulties  hi  Native 
Churches.  —  Similar  Difficulties  in  the  Apostolic  Churches. — Allowance  for  Fail- 
ings in  Mission  Churches.  —  Hard  to  reach  the  Self-sustaining  Point. — Necessary 
Modifications. — A  Fixed  Limit  to  the  Ability  of  Missionary  Societies. — A  Limit 
to  the  Number  of  Missionaries.  —  The  Native  Agency  should  have  Room  for 
Growth.  —  Too  much  required  of  Missions. — A  Mission  may  grow,  and  yet  not 
Increase  its  Cost  to  the  Society. —When  the  Work  of  a  Mission  is  completed.  .  .  242 

CHAPTER  IV. 
PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORK. 

Communities  that  have  been  Christianized.— SANDWICH  ISLANDS.  Missionaries 
and  their  Children.  —  Solution  of  the  Problem.  —  Present  Dangers. — The  Found- 
ers and  Fathers  of  the  Mission  to  remain.  —  CHEROKEES.  The  Mission  discon- 


xii  CONTENTS. 

tinued.  —  CHOCTA'SVS.    Dr.  Kingsbury's  Testimony.  —  Hinderances  to  Progress. 

—  The  Missions  successful. —  Discontinued. —  TUSCARORAS.    Long  since  Chris- 
tianized.— Why  the  Mission  was  not  sooner  discontinued.  —  STATIONS.    What  is 
meant  by  a  Christianized  Station.  —  Illustrations.  —  Pastors  of  Station  Churches. 

—  The  Centralizing  Policy,  and  its  Effect  on  Village  Stations.  —  When  it  should 
be  changed.  —  Education  for  Native  Preachers  of  the  First  Generation.— Histori- 
cal Catalogue  of  the  Missions 253 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  MISSIONARIES. 

The  Missionary  described.  —  The  Principle  underlying  his  Engagement.  —  Makes 
the  First  Advance.  —  Appointment,  Designation,  and  Support.  —  Age,  Constitu- 
tion, Habits.  —  Ordination.  —  Marriage.  —  The  Number  of  Missionaries. — Whence 
they  came. — Education.  —  Length  of  Service.  —  Protective  Care  of  Providence. — 
Missionary  Physicians.  —  Unmarried  Females.  —  Farmers  and  Mechanics.  —  Sala- 
ries.—  Disabled  Missionaries.  —  Children  of  Missionaries;  —  Schools,  Asylums, 
Permanent  Funds.— The  Present  System  found  to  work  well 270 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  CHURCHES. 

Relation  of  Missionaries  to  Native  Churches  and  Pastors. — Organization  of  Churches 
among  the  Armenians. — In  Syria.  —  Among  the  Nestorians.  —  Among  the  Mah- 
rattas.  —  In  the  Arcot  Mission. — At  Madras.  —  In  the  Madura  District. —  Corpo- 
rate Powers  of  the  Missions.  —  Churches  in  Ceylon.  —  Caste  and  Polygamy. — 
Churches  in  the  Sandwich  Islands.  —  Among  the  Cherokees.  —  Among  the  Choc- 
taws. —  In  other  Tribes.  —  Tabular  View  of  the  Churches 281 

\ 

CHAPTER  VII. 
.  SCHOOLS. 

Schools  in  Early^tages  of  the  Missions.  —  COMMON  SCHOOLS.  Largest  Numerical 
Development.  —  Sandwich  Islands.  —  India  Missions — Whole  Number  of  Pupils. 

—  Value  of  the  Schools.  —  With  Heathen  Masters.— With  Christian  Masters.— 
China. — North  American  Indians.  —  Western  Asia.  —  General  View. —  HIGHER 
SCHOOLS.    India.— Before  and  after  the  Introductory  Stages.  —  Tamil  People.— 
Batticotta  Seminary.  —  Oodooville  Female  School.—  Pasumalie  Seminary.  —  Ma- 
dura Female  School.  —  English  Language.  —  Higher  Vernacular  Education.  — 
Schools  for  Small  Boys.  —Schools  at  Ahmednuggur. — At  Bombay.  — The  Amer- 
ican Mission  Institution. — In  Syria.  —  Armenians.  —  Nestorians.  —  Choctaws  and 
Cherokees.  — The  Past  and  Present.  — Use  of  the  English  Language.  —  General 
Results.  — The  Board  preeminently  concerned  in  Education.— The  Oahu  College.  ./ 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

— Foreign  Youth  in  this  Country.  —  School  at  Cornwall.  —  Great  Interest  awak- 
ened.—  The  Disappointment.  —  Discontinuance.  —  Greek  and  Armenian  Youth. — 
Result.  —  Foreign  Youth  to  be  educated  in  their  own  Countries 304 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
PREACHING  AND  THE  PRESS. 

PREACHING.  What  the  Preacher  needs. — What  is  meant  by  Preaching. — Prerequi- 
sites for  Success.  —  Gathering  of  Congregations.  —  Their  Nucleus  a  Church. — 
Christian  Congregations  in  the  Madura  Mission.  —  Signs  of  Progress.  —  The 
School  and  the  Congregation.  —  Successful  Preaching.  —  Street  and  Itinerant 
Preaching.  —  Preaching  Houses. —  Cost  of  Village  Churches.  —  Houses  of  Wor-  ****" 
ship  at  the  Sandwich  Islands.  —  Wise  Suggestions  on  Church  Building.  — THE 
PRESS.  Number  of  Languages  reduced  to  Writing.  —  Cherokee  Alphabet.— 
Choctaw  and  Hawaiian  Alphabets — Arabic  Type.  — Syriac  Type.  — Number  of 
Languages  employed.  —  Number  of  Printing  Establishments. — Amount  of  Print- 
ing in  the  Missions 333 

CHAPTER  IX. 

DEPUTATIONS. 

-9 
Visits  to  Missions  necessary.  —  Mr.  Evarts  to  the  Indian  Missions,  1818.  —  Dr. 

Worcester,  1821. — Mr.  Evarts,  1822  and  1824.— Changes  required  by  Experience. 
—  Mr.  Greene,  1827, 1833,  and  1842. — Changes.— Mr.  Anderson  to  the  Mediterra- 
nean, 1828,  9.  —  Messrs.  Anderson  and  Hawes,  1843,4. — Results.  —  Mr.  Treat  to 
the  Cherokee  and  Choctaw  Missions,  1847.  —  Objects  of  the  Visit.  —  Christian  Fel- 
lowship.— Mr.  Treat  to  Cattaraugus,  1849,  and  to  Dakotas  and  Ojibwas,  1854. — Dr. 
Wood  to  Cherokee  and  Choctaw  Missions,  1855.  —  Messrs.  Anderson  and  Thomp- 
son to  the  India  Missions,  1854,  5.  —  Dr.  Anderson  to  the  Mediterranean,  1855. — 
Proceedings  in  the  India  Missions.  —  Reports  and  Letters.  —  Main  Object  of  the 
Discussions.  —  Course  of  the  Deputation  arraigned  at  Utica,  1855.  —  Special  Meet- 
ing of  the  Board  in  Albany,  1856.  —  Report  of  the  Deputation.  —  Case  referred  to 
a  Special  Committee.  —  Correspondence  with  the  Missionaries — -Report  of  the 
Special  Committee,  and  Resolutions  of  the  Board.  — Resolutions  of  the  Pruden- 
tial Committee.— Results  of  these  Occurrences 346 


CHAPTER  X. 


LITERATURE  OF  THE  BOARD  AND  OF  ITS  MISSIONS. 

Missionary  Literature  a  Necessity.  —  AT  HOME.  Sermons.  —  Periodicals.  —  Reports. 
—  Missionary  Tracts.  —  ABROAD.  School  Books.  —  Versions  of  the  Scriptures.  — 
Helps  for  understanding  the  Scriptures  and  their  Application.  —  RESULTANT 
LITERATURE.  Biographies. —  Exploring  Tours.  —  Works  Historical,  Descrip- 
tive, and  on  the  Results  of  Missionary  Experience 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 
FIELD  AND  WORK  AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  HALF-CENTURY. 

Fifty  Years  ago.— The  Field  and  Work  at  the  Present  Time.  —  Knowledge  of  the 
World  and  its  Inhabitants.  —  Political  Ascendency  of  Protestant  Christianity.— 
General  Acknowledgment  of  Missions  as  a  Duty.  — Extent  of  Missionary  Organ- 
izations  Success  of  Missions.  —  Islands  of  the  Pacific.  — Africa.— West  Indies. 

—  Eastern  Asia.  —  Madagascar.  —  Tahiti.  —  Sandwich  Islands.  —  Turkey.  —  Nes- 
torians.  — India.— Distribution  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  —  Estimated  Pecuniary 
Value  of  the  Missionary  Enterprise.  —  The  existing  Missions  will  fill  the  Earth 
by  their  Growth.  —  The  Call  to  the  People  of  God 383 


APPENDIX. 

L    ACT  OF  INCORPORATION 405 

II.    CORPORATE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  BOARD 408 

III.  OFFICERS  OF  THE  BOARD 411 

IV.  CORPORATE  MEMBERS  DECEASED  OR  RESIGNED 412 

V.    MISSIONARIES  AND  ASSISTANT   MISSIONARIES   SENT   FORTH 

BY  THE  BOARD 414 

VI.    REGULATIONS  FOR  THE  EXPENDITURE  OF  THE  MISSIONS.  .  .  433 

VII.    LITERATURE  OF  THE  BOARD  AND  ITS  MISSIONS 435 

INDEX    .                                                                                                                             .  445 


THE  JUBILEE  MEETING. 


THE  JUBILEE  MEETING 


THE  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions completed  its  first  half-century  in  the  year  1860.  As 
the  Board  had  its  origin  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  it  was 
proper  that  the  meeting  commemorative  of  the  event  should 
be  held  in  Boston.  The  people  of  the  city  and  its  extensive 
environs,  connected  with  it  by  steam  and  horse  cars,  made  pro- 
vision for  some  two  thousand  guests ;  and  probably  a  yet 
greater  number  had  their  own  arrangements  with  friends  or 
at  public  houses,  and  very  many  came  from  their  homes  each 
morning,  from  the  distance  of  ten  and  even  twenty  miles, 
returning  by  late  evening  trains. 

The  names  of  ninety-five  Corporate  members,  and  nine 
hundred  and  seventy-four  Honorary  members,  were  entered 
by  the  Recording  Secretary,  though  many  who  were  present 
doubtless  failed  to  report  their  names.  The  sessions  were 
held  in  the  Tremont  Temple,  commencing  Tuesday,  October 
2,  at  four  o'clock,  P.  M.,  and  closing  Friday  noon,  October  5. 

The  Temple  was  full  at  every  meeting,  except  perhaps  the 
opening  session,  and  on  several  occasions  was  densely  crowded. 
The  number  present  to  listen  to  the  President's  Historical  Dis- 
course could  hardly  have  been  less  than  thirty-five  hundred  ; 
and  nearly  as  many  w-ere  again  assembled  on  Friday  morning 
at  the  closing  meeting. 

The  Annual  Sermon  was  delivered  on  Tuesday  evening,  by 
Dr.  Samuel  W.  Fisher,  President  of  Hamilton  College.  His 

(3) 


I 

4  THE  JUBILEE  MEETING. 

text  was  Isaiah  xlv.  1-6,  and  xliii.  21.  On  Wednesday 
evening,  Dr.  Mark  Hopkins,  the  President  of  the  Board,  de- 
livered the  Historical  Discourse,  which  forms  an  important 
portion  of  this  volume.  As  the  number  of  persons  in  attend- 
ance was  much  greater  than  could  be  accommodated  in  the 
spacious  Temple,  Park-street  Church  was  opened  in  the 
morning,  afternoon  and  evening  of  Wednesday,  and  in  the 
morning  and  evening  of  Thursday,  as  was  also  Winter-street 
Church  on  Wednesday  evening,  for  meetings  that  were  ad- 
dressed by  returned  missionaries  and  others,  and  very  numer- 
ously attended.  According  to  the  custom  of  the  Board,  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  observed  on  Thursday, 
afternoon ;  and  it  was  necessary  to  occupy  four  churches,  the 
communicants  in  attendance  being  probably  not  far  from  forty- 
five  hundred.  Prayer  meetings  were  held  on  Wednesday  and 
Thursday  mornings,  at  a  quarter  past  eight  o'clock,  at  Park- 
street  Church  ;  and  by  returned  missionaries  and  their  friends 
in  the  vestry  of  Tremont  Temple.  These  meetings  were  fully 
attended,  and  of  deep  interest. 

This  annual  meeting  being  specially  commemorative,  Thurs- 
day morning  was  devoted  to  reminiscences.  It  was  at  this 
session  the  speeches  were  delivered,  which  are  for  the  most 
part  embodied  in  the  second  chapter  of  this  work.  At  this 
time,  also,  Pastor  Fische,  from  Paris,  representing  the  French 
Evangelical  Missionary  Society,  Dr.  Warren,  Secretary  of  the 
Baptist  Missionary  Union,  and  Chancellor  Ferris,  from  the 
Board  of  Missions  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church, 
severally  addressed  the  Board,  with  .  assurances  of  cordial 
Christian  sympathy  and  a  spirit  of  cooperation  in  the  great 
missionary  work.  The  President  of  the  Board  responded, 
heartily  reciprocating  the  salutations  and  Christian  sympathies 
of  each  of  these  gentlemen. 

In  consequence  of  the  almost  unexampled  embarrassment 
of  the  times  for  the  past  year  or  two,  the  Board  had  com- 
menced its  fiftieth  year  with  a  debt  of  sixty-six  thousand  three 
hundred  and  seventy-four  dollars ;  and  its  necessary  annual 
expenditure  was  about  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dol- 


I 

THE   JUBILEE   MEETING.  5 

lars.  To  place  it  above  all  embarrassment  at  its  Jubilee  Meet- 
ing, it  was  needful  to  aim  at  raising  some  four  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  dollars  during  the  year.  Much  gratitude 
and  joy  pervaded  the  meeting,  that  the  receipts  had  been 
four  hundred  and  twenty-nine  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  dollars  and  eight  cents,  being  one  thousand  four 
hundred  and  sixty-six  dollars  and  nineteen  cents  more  than 
the  united  sum  of  the  debt  and  the  expenditure.  This  auspi- 
cious result  was  owing  to  the  spirit  of  uncommon  liberality 
which  God  was  pleased  to  give  to  the  friends  of  the  enterprise 
generally,  but  more  especially  to  a  well-planned  effort  for  the 
removal  of  the  debt,  suggested  by  a  mercantile  friend  in  Bos- 
ton. The  plan  was  to  raise  sixty  thousand  dollars  among 
merchants  and  others,  by  subscriptions  of  one  thousand  dol- 
lars each.  It  was  somewhat  modified,  but  the  result  was 
secured  by  comparatively  a  small  number  of  persons.  Twenty 
thousand  dollars  were  raised  in  Boston  ;  as  much  more  in  New 
York  and  Brooklyn ;  and  New  England  (out  of  Boston) 
responded  with  gratifying  cordiality,  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut each  contributing  more  than  ten  thousand  dollars. 

The  subject  of  missionary  expenditure  not  being  well  un- 
derstood in  the  Christian  community,  —  the  current  impres- 
sion being  that  the  Prudential  Committee  might  justly  be  held 
responsible  for  incurring  a  debt,  whatever  the  amount  of  the 
receipts,  —  a  brief  statement  was  made  to  the  meeting,  show- 
ing that  the  Committee  had  but  a  limited  responsibility  for 
the  late  indebtedness.  This  gave  rise  to  a  protracted,  earnest, 
and  very  profitable  discussion.  It  was  (as  it  is  still)  a  topic 
for  the  times,  and  every  body  seemed  interested.  It  had  such 
an  obvious  bearing  on  the  vital  interests  of  the  great  cause, 
and  also  upon  the  personal  duty  of  every  Christian,  that  it  did 
not  perceptibly  interfere  with  the  spirituality  of  the  meeting. 
Iii  view  of  the  unexpected  and  very  grave  national  agitations 
which  have  since  arisen,  and  of  their  depressing  influence  on 
the  commercial  and  religious  interests  of  the  country,  it  was 
perhaps  well  that  the  main  current  of  the  meeting  took  this 
direction.  That,  and  the  disinthrallment  of  the  treasury,  may 


6  THE  JUBILEE   MEETING. 

be  thankfully  regarded  as  a  providential  preparation  for  pass- 
ing through  the  national  judgments  so  soon  to  follow.  The 
discussion  did  not  reach  its  climax  until  the  closing  session 
on  Friday  morning,  when  the  following  resolution  was  pro- 
posed, viz. :  "  That  the  Board  express  the  hope  that  the  Pru- 
dential Committee  will  see  their  way  clear  to  appropriate  three 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  dollars  for  the  coming  year  ; 
and  that  the  friends  of  the  cause  will  aim  to  raise  not  less 
than  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  that  sum  being  desirable 
for  the  proper  growth  and  development  of  the  missions." 

As  soon  as  this  resolution  had  been  adopted  by  the  Board,  a 
wish  was  expressed  that  an  opportunity  might  be  given  for 
the  whole  assembly  to  manifest  their  feelings.  The  President, 
therefore,  requested  those  who  desired  to  express  concurrence 
with  the  sentiment  of  that  resolution,  to  do  so  by  rising.  The 
whole  great  congregation  rose  at  once ;  one  voice  unexpectedly 
struck  the  note  —  instantly  many  caught  it  —  and  a  multitude 
of  voices,  like  the  noise  of  many  waters,  sang  the  well-known 
verse, — 

"  Shall  we,  whose  souls  are  lighted 

With  wisdom  from  on  high,  — 
Shall  we  to  men  benighted 

The  lamp  of  life  deny  ? 
Salvation  !  —  O,  salvation ! 

The  joyful  sound  proclaim, 
Till  earth's  remotest  nation 

Has  learned  Messiah's  name." 

It  was  a  scene  long  to  be  remembered.  Many  an  eye  filled 
with  tears,  and  many  a  bosom  swelled  with  emotion. 

The  Committee  and  Executive  Officers  of  the  Board  had  con- 
templated a  different  course  of  thought  as  likely  to  enter  into 
the  main  business  of  the  meeting,  and  proposed  the  following 
resolutions  to  the  Board ;  which  were  very  cordially  adopted, 
but  with  regret  that  there  was  no  more  time  to  discuss  them. 
They  have  an  historical  importance. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  history  of  this  Board,  at  home  and 
abroad,  from  the  beginning  hitherto,  we  gratefully  recognize 
the  good  hand  of  our  God  upon  us ;  and  especially  on  this 


THE   JUBILEE   MEETING.  7 

anniversary,  we  would  remember,  with  humble  thankfulness, 
all  the  way  which  the  Lord  our  God  has  led  us  these  fifty 
years. 

"  1.  We  praise  him  for  giving  to  the  pioneers  in  this  en- 
terprise, on  the  one  hand,  such  simplicity  of  faith,  such  ear- 
nestness of  purpose,  such  compassion  for  the  lost,  and  such 
love  to  the  Saviour ;  and  for  giving  to  our  fathers,  on  the  other 
hand,  such  a  readiness  to  assume  the  new  and  unknown  re- 
sponsibilities which  were  so  unexpectedly  thrown  upon  them. 

"  2.  We  praise  him  for  inclining  so  many  of  our  sons  and 
daughters,  in  all  the  years  that  are  past,  to  go  forth  and  preach 
among  the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ;  and 
for  inspiring  our  churches  to  such  a  degree  with  the  willing- 
ness so  to  provide  for  their  wants,  as  to  leave  them  without 
carefulness  in  the  prosecution  of  their  work. 

"  3.  We  praise  him  for  sparing  so  many  of  our  missionaries, 
some  of  them  far  advanced  in  life,  to  see  this  day ;  and  we 
praise  him  as  well  for  those  who  are  not,  (for  the  Lord  hath 
taken  them,)  because  of  the  serene  trust  and  the  radiant  hope 
with  which  they  passed  from  their  earthly  tabernacle  to  a 
house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens. 

"  4.  We  praise  him  because,  in  these  last  days,  the  first  and 
chief  Missionary  has  gone  forth,  glorious  in  his  apparel,  and 
traveling  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength,  that  he  may  pre- 
pare a  way  for  his  people  in  all  the  earth,  by  turning  backward 
the  two-leaved  gates,  and  breaking  the  scepters  of  the  mighty, 
and  so  making  hundreds  of  millions  accessible  to  his  own  life- 
giving  word. 

"  5.  We  praise  him  for  other  achievements  of  unspeakable 
value,  in  that  he  has  set  his  seal  upon  missions,  as  the  cheap- 
est, readiest,  and  truest  reforming  and  civilizing  agency ;  in 
that  he  has  proved,  beyond  all  contradiction,  the  perfect  adap- 
tation of  his  gospel  to  all  classes  of  men,  even  the  most  de- 
graded and  the  most  depraved ;  in  that  he  has  rescued, 
through  our  instrumentality,  tens  of  thousands  from  the 
ineffable  woes  of  heathenism,  and  made  them  kings  and  priests 
unto  God  forever. 


8  THE  JUBILEE  MEETING. 

"  6.  "We  praise  him,  above  all,  for  doing  so  much  for  us, 
and  so  much  by  us,  notwithstanding  our  grievous  unbelief, 
our  covetousness,  our  indifference  to  the  worth  of  the  soul, 
our  neglect  of  prayer,  our  imperfect  sympathy  with  Christ, 
and  our  disposition  to  exalt  ourselves ;  for  all  which  we  desire 
to  humble  ourselves,  saying  with  one  heart,  '  0  Lord,  right- 
eousness belongeth  unto  thee,  but  unto  us  confusion  of  faces, 
as  at  this  day.' 

"  Resolved,  That  we  record  it  as  the  deliberate  judgment 
of  the  Board,  that  the  churches  sustaining  its  operations  are 
summoned  to  higher  obligations  and  higher  privileges. 

"  1.  God  has  committed  to  our  spiritual  husbandry  some  of 
the  largest  and  noblest  fields  in  the  world. 

"  2.  He  has  blessed  our  work  to  such  a  degree,  that  for  us 
to  remain  stationary  has  become  impossible,  without  a  man- 
ife,st  and  perilous  disregard  of  duty. 

"  3.  Having  the  undoubted  ability  to  do  much  more  than 
we  have  yet  done,  it  will  be  for  our  spiritual  enlargement,  and 
our  comfort  of  hope,  that  we  place  ourselves  at  once  in  har- 
mony with  the  merciful  designs  of  our  enthroned  Immanuel. 

"  4.  In  that  season  of  prosperity,  more  dangerous  than  ad- 
versity, which  is  beginning  to  diffuse  its  cheerful  light  in  all 
our  borders,  our  best  safeguard  against  worldliness  and  lux- 
ury, the  love  of  gain  and  the  love  of  pleasure,  will  be  a  ready 
and  hearty  consecration,  day  by  day,  of  our  property,  as  well 
as  of  ourselves,  to  Christ's  honored  and  chosen  work. 

"  5.  The  honor  of  our  ascended  Lord  imperatively  requires 
that  we  '  go  forward,'  seeing  that  he  has  opened  the  world  so 
widely  to  his  people,  and  placed  in  their  hands  such  multi- 
plied facilities  for  speedy  and  efficient  action,  and  given  them 
the  silver  and  the  gold  for  this  very  end,  that  now  at  length, 
when  this  nineteenth  century  is  waning  to  its  close,  his  people 
should  go  forth,  and  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord 
in  all  the  world." 

Thus  ended  the  first  Half-Century  of  the  Board,  and  thus 
commenced  the  second.  It  was  well  remarked,  at  the  close 
of  the  published  minutes  of  the  meeting,  "  If  the  impressions 


THE  JUBILEE   MEETING.  9 

produced  during  the  meeting  could  be  retained  by  all  who 
were  present,  and  if  they  would  do  all  they  might  to  extend 
such  impressions  among  others,  then,  indeed,  might  the  Pru- 
dential Committee  expect  to  be  enabled  to  sustain  the  missions 
in  a  healthful  and  vigorous  growth,  and  to  carry  forward  the 
work  which  the  Lord  has  so  greatly  prospered  during  the  past 
fifty  years,  to  results  within  another  half-century,  more  glo- 
rious, by  far,  than  have  ever  yet  been  witnessed  in  connection 
with  any  missionary  enterprise  of  the  Christian  church." 
2 


DR.  HOPKINS'S 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 


HISTOKICAL    DISCOUKSE. 


"  THERE  SHALL  BE  A  HANDFUL  OF  CORN  IN  THE  EARTH  UPON  THE  TOP  OF 
THE  MOUNTAINS  J  THE  FRUIT  THEREOF  SHALL  SHAKE  LIKE  LEBANON."  — 
Ps.  Ixxii.  16. 

THERE  are  no  contrasts  like  those  of  Christianity.  The  con- 
trasts of  nature  are  great,  but  nature  is  subordinate,  and,  like 
every  subordinate  system,  is  not  only  a  condition  of  that  which 
is  higher,  but  serves  for  its  illustration  and  prefigurement. 
The  chief  value  and  significance  of  nature  are  from  its  rela- 
tion to  a  higher  system  of  moral  government.  Great  as  are 
its  contrasts,  compared  with  those  of  Christianity,  they  are  but 
as  the  shadow  to  the  substance,  but  as  the  type  to  the  thing 
typified. 

In  nature  we  have  contrasts  of  opposition,  as  between  light 
and  darkness,  heat  and  cold,  life  and  death.  In  Christianity 
the  contrasts  are  not  merely  of  elements  that  exclude  each 
other,  but  of  those  that  conflict,  and  with  a  struggle  that  is 
conscious  and  intense.  They  are  between  holiness  and  sin, 
love  and  hatred,  heaven  and  hell. 

We  have  also,  in  nature,  contrasts  between  beginnings  and 
consummations.  These  are  from  growth  and  increase.  Be- 
tween the  little  leaven  and  the  whole  lump  ;  between  the  mus- 
tard seed,  which  is,  indeed,  the  least  of  all  seeds,  and  the  tree, 
in  the  branches  of  which  the  birds  of  the  air  come  and  lodge ; 
between  the  little  fire  and  the  great  matter  it  kindleth ;  be- 
tween the  fountain  and  the  river ;  between  the  infant  and  the 

(13) 


14  HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE. 

monarch ;  between  the  handful  of  corn  in  the  earth  and  the 
fruit  thereof,  the  contrast  is  great.  Every  thing  that  grows, 
all  organization,  however  huge  and  ponderous  it  may  become, 
has  its  beginning  in  a  point,  often  too  minute  for  our  inspec- 
tion. But  in  Christianity  the  contrast  is  not  between  the 
leaven  and  the  lump ;  it  is  between  a  single  individual,  on  the 
one  hand,  without  learning,  or  rank,  or  wealth,  gathering 
around  him  his  twelve  disciples  and  teaching  them  ;  and,  on 
the  other,  a  whole  world  in  ignorance  and  moral  death,  that 
is  to  be  enlightened,  quickened,  transformed,  regenerated ; 
and,  instead  of  being  tossed  by  passion  and  turbid  with  sin,  is 
to  reflect  over  its  whole  surface  the  image  of  heaven.  It  is 
not  between  the  mustard  seed  and  the  tree  that  reaches  its 
limit  and  then  decays,  but  between  the  "  incorruptible  seed  " 
and  a  growth  that  shall  know  no  end.  It  is  not  between  the 
infant  in  his  cradle  and  the  general  at  the  head  of  armies,  or 
the  monarch  on  his  throne,  but  between  the  babe  of  Bethle- 
hem, wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes  and  lying  in  a  manger,  and 
the  leader  of  the  armies  of  heaven,  having  on  his  head  many 
crowns,  and  on  his  vesture  and  on  his  thigh  a  name  written 
—  "King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords."  It  is  between  Him 
who  stood  at  Pilate's  bar,  and  Him  who  shall  come  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him,  and  be- 
fore whom  shall  be  gathered  all  nations.  It  is  between  the 
Man  of  sorrows,  expiring  upon  the  cross,  and  Him  who  shall 
sit  upon  the  great  white  throne,  and  before  whose  face  the 
earth  and  the  heaven  shall  flee  away. 

This  contrast,  which  we  thus  find  in  the  person  of  our  Sa- 
viour, and  in  the  beginning  of  his  religion  compared  with  its 
consummation,  has  been  reproduced  in  the  history  of  every  in- 
dividual Christian  and  of  every  revival  of  religion,  and  in  every 
great  movement  in  which  Christianity  has  begun  to  reassert 
its  purity,  or  its  claims  to  universal  supremacy.  It  is  in  these 
contrasts  that  we  find  that  method  of  God  by  which  lie  shows 
continually  that  the  "  foolishness  of  God  is  wiser  than  men, 
and  that  the  weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than  men ; "  "  that 
no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence." 


HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE.  15 

Thus  it  was  in  the  Reformation.  There  was  a  poor  boy  sing- 
ing from  house  to  house  for  bread ;  there  was  a  solitary  monk 
burdened  with  a  sense  of  sin,  and  reading  a  chained  Bible  in 
his  convent ;  and  in  that  boy,  in  that  monk,  in  that  Bible  was 
the  Reformation.  There  were  great  men  then  —  councilors, 
princes,  emperors ;  bishops,  cardinals,  popes ;  but  from  them 
this  light  did  not  proceed.  There  were  churches  splendid  with 
all  that  wealth  could  procure,  magnificent  cathedrals ;  there 
was  St.  Peter's  itself ;  but  "  it  was  in  an  old  wooden  chapel, 
thirty  feet  long  and  twenty  broad,  whose  walls,  propped  on  all 
sides,  were  falling  to  ruin,  that  the  Reformation  was  first 
preached."  So,  too,  it  was  with  that  second  and  more  complete 
reformation,  when  Puritanism  had  its  rise  in  England,  from 
which  was  English  liberty ;  and  especially  with  that  movement 
which  led  to  the  exodus  of  our  fathers.  There  were  a  few 
students  in  the  universities ;  there  were  prohibited  meetings  for 
prayer  in  private  houses  of  the  humbler  class ;  there  were 
poor,  but  zealous  and  faithful  men  in  the  prisons;  and  there 
were  the  Mayflower  and  Plymouth  Rock  ;  and  now  there  is  a 
continent  upon  either  shore  of  which  the  tide  of  emigration  is 
setting  in,  where  the  free  elements  are  heaving  and  tossing  like 
the  ocean,  and  where  there  is,  as  nowhere  else,  freedom  to 
worship  God. 

So  again,  at  a  later  period,  four  young  men  at  the  most 
celebrated  English  university  formed  a  club.  They  were  ridi- 
culed as  the  Holy  Club,  and  as  Methodists.  But  persecution 
did  its  wonted  work.  Driven  from  the  churches,  they  preached 
in  the  open  air ;  and  from  them,  in  connection  with  the  organ- 
izing power  of  Wesley  and  the  wonderful  eloquence  of  White- 
field,  there  went  forth  a  movement  that  shook  England  and 
this  continent,  and  that  must  go  on  in  circles  still  widening 
till  the  end  of  time. 

And  what  was  the  origin  of  modern  Protestant  missions  ? 
It  was  from  deep  poverty  abounding  to  the  riches  of  liberality. 
"  When  the  Moravians  sent  out  their  first  missionaries,  in  1732, 
their  entire  congregation  did  not  exceed  six  hundred  persons, 
and  the  greater  part  of  these  were  suffering  exiles."  The 
J 


16  HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 

world  knew  them  not;  but  they  established  numerous  mis- 
sions, and  were  doing  God's  work  as  no  other  people  were. 

How,  too,  did  the  great  movement  in  England,  sixty  years 
afterward,  originate?  It  was  from  no  university,  from  no 
established  church,  from  no  distinguished  man.  It  was  in  the 
mind  of  a  shoemaker,  the  honored  Carey.  For  years  the  idea 
was  within  him,  as  a  fire  shut  up  in  his  bones.  When  he  ven- 
tured to  speak  of  it  he  was  regarded  as  infatuated ;  his  breth- 
ren called  him  an  enthusiast ;  and  when  they  were  won  over, 
and  the  work  was  begun,  literature  and  wit,  in  the  person  of 
Sydney  Smith,  ridiculed  the  cobbler,  and  scoffed  at  the  under- 
taking. 

Of  this  great  principle,  or  method  of  contrast,  which  we  thus 
find  every  where,  both  in  nature  and  in  Christianity,  we  have, 
in  the  history  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions,  whose  fiftieth  anniversary  we  now  celebrate, 
a  striking  illustration ;  and  this  we  recognize,  and  accept,  and 
rejoice  in,  as  an  evidence  that  the  movement  was  of  God. 

And  not  merely  from  the  analogies  of  the  past,  do  we,  in 
this  connection,  find  evidence  of  the  divine  origin  of  this  work. 
"Whenever  small  beginnings  increase  to  great  magnitude,  or 
great  results  flow  from  causes  and  means  apparently  inade- 
quate, there  must  be  previous  conditions,  and  concurrent 
agencies,  which  no  power  of  man  could  arrange  or  control. 
The  little  leaven  will  not  leaven  a  lump  of  clay.  Falling  at 
another  time  or  place,  the  spark  that  has  fired  a  train  and 
blown  up  a  fortress  would  have  simply  expired.  There  must 
be  adaptation,  congruity,  proclivity,  a  meeting  of  some  great 
want,  a  falling  in  with  concealed  tendencies,  a  special  divine 
power ;  and  if,  as  in  this  case,  the  results  be  such  as  only  a 
divine  power  could  or  would  produce,  we  must  refer  them  to 
that.  Historically  our  thoughts  follow  the  order  of  visible 
causes,  but  without  conditions  and  agencies  far  above  these, 
they  are  of  little  account.  Hence  the  chief  agents  in  such 
movements  are  often  quite  as  much  astonished  as  others  at  the 
prospects  which  the  winding  and  widening  river  of  God's 
providence  opens  up,  and  at  the  results  accomplished.  Xei- 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE.  17 

ther  Luther,  nor  Wesley,  nor  Mills  anticipated,  at  the  begin- 
ning, what  the  end  would  be.  Said  Whitefield,  in  entering 
upon  his  work,  "  I  have  thrown  myself  blindfold,  and  I  trust 
without  reserve,  into  His  almighty  hands." 

Like  the  movements  of  which  I  have  now  spoken,  this  for 
foreign  missions  had  its  origin  with  young  men.  A  boy  over- 
heard his  mother  say,  that  she  had  devoted  him  to  the  service 
of  God  as  a  missionary.  Here,  so  far  as  we  can  trace  it,  we 
find  the  fountain  head  of  this  broad  river.  When  this  boy 
was  converted,  his  thoughts  were  immediately  turned  toward 
missions.  He  entered  college,  and  in  connection  with  the 
study  of  the  geography  of  Asia,  the  idea  of  a  mission  to  that 
continent  was  suggested  and  revolved.  At  a  stated  prayer 
meeting,  held  at  hours  when  most  students  are  either  engaged 
in  sport  or  are  doing  nothing,  this  idea  was  presented.  Driv- 
en by  an  approaching  thunder-storm  from  the  grove  where 
the  meeting  had  usually  been  held,  they  took  shelter  behind 
a  neighboring  haystack,  and  there,  in  the  language  of  one 
who  was  present,  "  Mills  proposed  to  send  the  gospel  to  that 
dark  and  heathen  land,  and  said  we  could  do  it  if  we  would." 
The  subject  was  then  discussed,  and  as  the  storm  was  pass- 
ing away,  Mills  said,  "  Come,  let  us  make  it  a  subject  of 
prayer  under  this  haystack,  while  the  dark  clouds  are  going 
and  the  clear  sky  is  coming."  So  they  prayed,  and  continued 
to  pray  and  consult  together  through  that  and  the  following 
season.  Then  a  society  was  formed,  the  object  of  which  was, 
in  the  language  of  its  constitution,  "  to  effect,  in  the  person  of 
its  members,  a  mission  to  the  heathen."  This  was  the  first 
foreign  missionary  society  on  this  continent.  A  similar  society 
was  soon  formed  at  Andover,  by  Mills  and  those  who  went  with 
him,  and  from  that  the  proposition  was  made  that  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  the  American  Board. 

What  a  contrast  is  here !  On  the  one  side  is  that  vast  con- 
tinent, the  cradle  of  the  race,  and  of  Christianity,  with  its 
myriads  of  people,  now  seen,  not  in  the  purple  light  of  the 
imagination,  as  the  Orient  filled  with  palaces  and  pageants ; 
nor  with  the  eye  of  traffic,  as  the  land  of  spices  and  of  gems ; 
3 

\ 


18  HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 

but  as  the  abode  of  a  perverted  Christianity,  of  intrenched 
paganism,  of  darkness,  and  cruelty,  and  degradation ;  as  a 
land  where  missionaries  would  be  murdered,  and  fortresses 
could  be  stormed  only  by  those  who  should  lead  a  forlorn  hope. 
On  the  other  side  are  five  young  men,  from  the  two  lower 
classes  in  an  infant  college,  in  a  place  so  secluded  that  no  mail 
from  any  one  direction  reaches  it  oftener  than  once  a  week,  and 
with  an  ocean  and  a  continent  intervening.  They  are  seated 
by  a  haystack.  Dark  clouds  are  above  them ;  but  they  heed 
not  these,  nor  the  quick  flash  of  the  lightning,  nor  the  thun- 
der echoing  among  the  mountains.  They  are  speaking  of  "  the 
moral  darkness  of  Asia ; "  they  propose  to  send  the  gospel 
thither ;  they  say  they  can  do  it ;  they  kneel  together  in  prayer ; 
and  as  they  pray,  the  heavens  grow  brighter,  and  the  dark 
clouds  roll  away. 

Here  was  "the  handful  of  corn  among  the  mountains."  It 
fell  in  a  soil  prepared.  What,  now,  has  been  its  fruit  ?  The 
'  American  Board,  devised  by  Drs.  Spring  and  Worcester,  was 
formed.  At  its  first  meeting  but  five  persons  were  present, 
and  at  its  second  but  seven.  Its  receipts,  the  first  year,  were 
but  a  thousand  dollars.  Now  its  meetings  are  like  the  going 
up  of  the  tribes  to  Jerusalem ;  and  its  annual  receipts  are  three 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Then  it  had  no  missions, 
r  ^ l  •  and  it  was  not  known  that  any  heathen  country  would  be  open 
to  them.  Now  its  mission  stations  belt  the  globe,  so  that  the 
sun  does  not  set  upon  them,  and  the  whole  world  is  open.  It 
has  collected  and  disbursed,  with  no  loss  from  defalcation,  and 
no  suspicion  of  dishonesty,  more  than  eight  millions  of  dol- 
lars. It  has  sent  out  four  hundred  and  fifteen  ordained  mis- 
sionaries, and  eight  hundred  and  forty-three  not  ordained  ;  in 
all,  twelve  hundred  and  fifty-eight.  These  have  established 
thirty-nine  distinct  missions,  of  which  twenty-two  now  remain 
in  connection  with  the  Board ;  with  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine  stations  and  out-stations,  employing  four  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  native  helpers,  preachers,  and  pastors,  not  including 
teachers.  They  have  formed  one  hundred  and  forty-nine 
churches,  have  gathered  at  least  fifty-five  thousand  church 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE.  19 

members,  of  whom  more  than  twenty  thousand  are  now  in 
connection  with  its  churches.  It  has  under  its  care  three 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  seminaries  and  schools,  and  in  them 
more  than  ten  thousand  children.  It  has  printed  more  than 
a  thousand  millions  of  pages,  in  forty  different  languages.  It 
has  reduced  eighteen  languages  to  writing,  thus  forming  the 
germs  of  a  new  literature.  It  has  raised  a  nation  from  the 
lowest  forms  of  heathenism  to  a  Christian  civilization,  so  that 
a  larger  proportion  of  its  people  can  read  than  in  New  Eng- 
land. It  has  done  more  to  extend  and  to  diffuse  in  this  land 
a  knowledge  of  different  countries  and  people,  than  any  or  all 
other  agencies,  and  the  reaction  upon  the  churches  of  this 
foreign  work  has  been  invaluajble. 

But  what  has  been  done  by  this  Board  is  not  to  be  estimated 
by  the  results  already  realized.  This  is  the  smallest  part. 
Foundations  are  laid;  experience  is  gained;  materials  are 
gathered ;  the  leaven  is  deposited  and  at  work  ;  fires  are  set. 

Nor  do  we  find  the  fruit  of  that  same  handful  of  corn  only 
in  what  has  been  done  directly  by  this  Board.  On  reaching 
India,  Judson  and  Rice,  two  of  its  first  missionaries,  became 
Baptists.  This  fact  made  a  powerful  appeal  to  the  Baptist 
churches.  Mr.  Rice,  from  the  class  in  college  next  after  that 
of  Mills,  returned  immediately,  and  expressly  for  the  purpose 
of  stirring  up  those  churches.  He  went  through  the  land 
with  great  zeal  and  success,  and  thus  the  Burman  mission, 
which  has  been  so  remarkably  prospered,  as  well  as  the  other 
Baptist  missions,  sprung  from  this  seed. 

In  1812  "  the  Secretary,  in  behalf  of  the  Board,  suggested 
to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  the  ex- 
pediency of  forming  an  institution  similar  to  theirs,  between 
which  and  theirs  there  might  be  such  cooperation  as  should 
promote  the  great  object  of  missions  among  the  unevangelized 
nations.  The  Assembly,  however,  while  they  urged  the 
churches  under  their  care  to  aid  in  the  good  work,  thought 
the  business  of  foreign  missions  might  probably  be  best  man- 
aged under  a  single  Board  ;  and  thus  the  undivided  Presby- 
terian church,  so  long  as  it  was  undivided,  cooperated  with 


20  HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE. 

this  Board.  This  union  continued  till  1837,  when  the  Old 
School  Presbyterians  withdrew,  and  established  foreign  mis- 
sions of  their  own,  now  extensive  and  flourishing. 

In  apostolic  times,  Paul  and  Barnabas  had  a  contention  and 
separated.  In  JL§^S,  owing  to  a  difference  of  views  respecting 
the  best  method  of  dealing  with  j>lavery3  numbers  ceased  to 
cooperate  with  the  American  Board,  and  the  American  Mis- 
sionary  Association  was  formed.  This  has  prosecuted,  with 
success,  the  work  both  of  foreign  and  domestic  missions. 

Finally,  in  185£,  our  beloved  Dutch  brethren,  under  the 
impression  that  they  might  thus  work  more  effectively,  formed 
a  separate  Board,  and  have  now  their  own  missions. 

Thus  are  there  now  five  Boards,  through  which  the  great 
mass  of  missionary  feeling  and  effort  on  this  continent  finds 
expression ;  and  while  we  joyfully  recognize  what  is  done  by 
others,  it  must  yet  be  said  that  they  are  the  direct  fruit  of  the 
handful  of  corn  that  was  on  the  top  of  the  mountains.  All 
have  conscientious  and  devoted  laborers  in  the  field,  and  self- 
denying  and  prayerful  supporters  at  home.  All  recognize  the 
authority  of  the  last  command  of  Christ,  and  the  brotherhood 
of  the  race  in  him.  Thus  do  they  find  enlargement  of  intel- 
lect and  of  sympathy,  and  must,  we  should  suppose,  be  led, 
more  and  more,  so  to  work  in  harmony,  that  their  good  shall 
not  be  evil  spoken  of.  Nor  has  the  work  of  enlargement  been 
confined  to  this  continent.  Through  a  generous  appreciation 
of  our  missionaries  and  their  work,  and  with  a  spirit  of  mag- 
nanimity and  Christian  liberality  worthy  of  England  and  of 
this  age,  the  Turkish  Missions  Aid  Society  was  formed  in 
1854,  and  in  the  freest  and  most  cordial  manner  has  coop- 
erated with  this  Board. 

Is  there  any  where  a  more  striking  illustration  of  the  great 
principle  of  contrast  adopted  by  God?  Does  not  the  fruit 
thereof  shake  like  Lebanon  ?  Come,  0  thou  wind,  thou  strong 
west  wind,  from  the  great  sea,  sweep  up  the  sides  of  Lebanon, 
enter  into  his  thickets,  lay  hold  on  the  boughs  of  his  cedars. 
Ah,  how  do  the  forests  bend,  and  the  thickets  roar,  and  the 
cedars  shake  !  But  what  is  all  this,  thou  mighty  Lebanon,  to 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE.  21 

the  shaking  that  now  is,  and  that  shall  be,  of  that  fruit  among 
the  nations  that  has  sprung,  and  that  shall  spring,  from  the 
handful  of  corn  that  was  in  the  earth  upon  the  top  of  the 
mountains !  What  is  it  to  that  upon  thine  own  sides,  where 
the  feet  of  him  that  brought  glad  tidings  have  been  beautiful, 
and  where  thy  children  are  now  fed  by  Christian  bounty, 
where  they  have  fled  and  gathered  to  the  house  of  the  mis- 
sionary as  a  refuge  from  death  ! 

Having  thus  seen  what  has  been  done,  we  next  look  at  some 
features  of  the  work,  and  inquire  how  it  has  been  done. 

And  here  we  must  notice  the  two  great  elements  from  which 
this  movement  originated,  and  which  have  pervaded  and 
molded  the  whole  policy  of  this  Board. 

The  first  is,  a  transcendent  estimate  of  what  belongs  to 
Christianity  in  its  relation  to  a  future  life  ;  that  is,  of  essential 
and  spiritual  Christianity,  as  compared  with  modes  and  forms, 
and  all  that  in  which  evangelical  Christians  have  agreed  to 
differ. 

The  second  is,  a  transcendent  estimate  of  the  cross  of  Christ 
as  a  reformatory  power,  as  compared  with  any  educating,  or 
civilizing,  or  reforming  process,  aside  from  that. 

In  virtue  of  the  first,  our  aim  has  been  simple,  spiritual, 
grand ;  and  we  have  been  guarded,  as  fully,  perhaps,  as  such 
an  enterprise  can  be,  from  sectarianism  and  ecclesiasticism. 
In  virtue  of  the  second,  our  means  have  been  simple  and  spir- 
itual, and  we  have  been  guarded  from  much  complication  with 
secular  schemes  and  side  projects  of  partial  reform. 

In  accordance  with  the  first  of  these  elements,  I  observe,  as 
a  first  feature  of  the  work,  that  what  has  been  done  by  this 
Board  has  been  done  by  honoring  Christianity,  and  seeking  to 
send  that,  without  any  denominational  or  sectarian  object. 

In  every  established  religion,  the  grounds  of  interest  and 
activity  on  the  part  of  those  who  adhere  to  it,  or  seek  to  pro- 
mote it,  are  of  three  kinds. 

The  first  are  those  that  are  personal  and  temporal,  often 
involving  pecuniary  interests,  as  well  as  those  of  position,  and 
rank,  and  power.  These  are  always  strongest  with  ecclesias- 


22  HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 

'  tics  and  hierarchs,  and  with  any  whose  "  craft  "is  to  be  fur- 
thered, or  is  in  danger. 

A  second  ground  is  found  in  things  which  are  unessential, 
but  which  may,  or  may  not,  be  denominational.  Often,  per- 
haps generally,  these  are  magnified  and  clung  to  in  proportion 
as  they  are  distinctive,  and  so  unimportant.  They  include, 
sometimes,  doctrines,  but  chiefly  forms  of  government  and 
modes  of  administration.  It  is  here  that  sincere  but  weak 
and  undiscriminating  minds  fall  into  bigotry,  and  superstition, 
and  formalism. 

It  is  from  a  combination  of  this  with  the  preceding,  of  the 
Phariseeism,  the  Brahminism,  the  Ecclesiasticism  of  all  ages, 
with  popular  credulity  and  superstition,  that  the  most  active 
and  malignant  opposition  has  always  arisen  when  error  has 
been  attacked.  From  these  it  will  arise ;  and  its  force  will  be 
the  greater  as  the  error  is  more  incorporated  into  the  business, 
the  amusements,  the  life  of  a  community.  As  opposed  to 
evangelical  religion,  Sadduceeism  will  fall  in,  Herod  and 
Pilate  will  be  made  friends.  But  infidelity  is  a  Gallio.  It 
does  not  care  enough  for  these  things  to  build  inquisitions ;  it 
does  not  think  it  is  doing  God  service. 

A  third  ground  of  interest  is  in  a  rational  comprehension 
and  estimate  of  the  essential  elements  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion. If  Christianity  has  the  power  to  transform,  elevate,  and 
save  men,  it  is  to  be  valued  for  precisely  those  elements  which 
give  it  that  power ;  and  the  purity  of  efforts  to  promote  it 
will  be  as  the  respect  paid  to  those  elements.  It  is  only  in 
the  apprehension  of  these,  and  in  acting  from  them  and  for 
them,  that  we  can  have  simplicity  of  aim  and  of  method  ;  can 
exclude  the  possibility  of  fanaticism  and  malignity ;  and  can 
hope  for  union,  or  for  great  success. 

What,  then,  are  these  elements  ?  They  include  those  which 
relate  to  the  interests  of  another  life  —  to  salvation  from  sin 
and  its  consequences.  It  was  for  these  that  Christ  came ;  it 
is  for  these  that  we  send  his  gospel  to  the  heathen.  They 
include  those  great  but  simple  requisitions  of  Christianity, 
which  lie  between  its  system  of  doctrines  on  the  one  hand, 


HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE.  23 

and  its  temporal  results  and  outward  forms  on  the  other.  Its 
system  involves  the  whole  sweep  of  God's  moral  government, 
and  the  highest  questions  that  can  arise  under  that  govern- 
ment. Its  results  are  as  multifarious  and  complex  as  human 
life.  They  involve  whatever  pertains  to  the  highest  forms  of 
domestic  and  social  life,  and  to  the  most  perfect  civilization. 
In  the  system  there  are  depths  that  the  angels  desire  to  look 
into,  and  that  eternity  may  not  suffice  to  fathom.  Its  results 
are  like  the  outgoings  of  the  morning  —  an  outburst  of  be- 
neficence thai?  no  human  sagacity  can  follow  out  fully  in  its 
details.  But  while  .the  system  is  so  unfathomable,  and  the 
results  so  complex,  the  requisitions  that  lie  between  them  are 
of  marvelous  simplicity ;  so  that  between  these  and  the  results 
that  hinge  upon  them,  there  is  the  same  great  contrast  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken. 

These  requisitions  may  all  be  comprised  in  the  one  word 
faith.  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved."  "  Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  thy 
kingdom."  "  To-day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  paradise." 
—  It  is  only  to  feel  the  need  of  Christ,  to  look,  and  to  trust. 
It  is  as  when  one  plants  a  seed.  It  matters  not  that  he  does 
not  comprehend  the  great  system  of  nature,  the  whole  of 
which  is  required  for  the  growth  of  that  seed ;  or  the  processes 
of  its  growth ;  or  that  he  does  not  know  of  the  waving  har- 
vests that  may  spring  from  it  in  future  years.  He  performs 
an  act  of  simple,  I  may  say  of  sublime,  faith  in  the  system  of 
nature,  and  God  does  the  rest.  "  God  giveth  the  increase." 
So  he,  be  he  child  or  philosopher,  be  he  Greek  or  Jew,  who 
simply  trusts  in  Christ  as  a  Saviour  from  sin,  and  so,  as  he 
must,  becomes  conformed  unto  him,  plants  the  seed,  and  opens 
the  way  for  the  sunshine  and  the  rain,  for  the  processes,  and 
growth,  and  results  of  that  higher  system  of  redemption  for 
which  the  system  of  nature  stands.  Than  this  act  nothing 
can  be  simpler.  A  child  can  do  it ;  the  heathen  can  do  it. 
It  is  but  the  acceptance  of  a  gift.  "  Thanks  be  to  God  for  his 
unspeakable  gift." 

And  as  Christianity  is  thus  simple  in  its  requisitions  when 


24  HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE. 

it  is  to  be  received  by  the  individual,  calling  for  dependence 
on  Christ,  so  is  it  when  it  is  to  be  communicated  to  others, 
calling  for  dependence  on  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  the  simplicity 
in  the  one  case  arises  from  that  in  the  other.  The  simplicity 
of  that  faith  in  Christ,  and  in  him  crucified,  which  was  "  fool- 
ishness to  the  Greek,"  finds  its  counterpart  in  that  "  foolish- 
ness of  preaching  "  by  which  it  has  "  pleased  God  to  save  them 
that  believe."  Preaching,  believing,  salvation!  this  is  all; 
and  how  do  they  correspond  !  Here  is  a  gift,  make  it  known ; 
an  offer  of  liberty,  proclaim  it ;  a  fountain  operted,  stand  by  it 
and  cry,  "  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth ; "  and  he  that  believes 
will  take  the  gift,  and  come  out  of  his  prison  house,  and  drink 
of  the  living  waters.  So  only  could  a  spiritual  religion  be 
propagated. 

So  did  the  apostles  and  primitive  Christians.  Were  there 
divisions  among  them  ?  Inspiration  condemned  them.  Did 
any  say,  "  I  am  of  Paul  ?  "  The  apostle  asked  at  once,  "  Who 
is  Paul  ?  "  They  were  sent,  and  they  sought  simply  to  turn 
men  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto 
God,  that  they  might  —  what?  Belong  to  a  sect?  No;  but 
"receive  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  inheritance  among  them 
which  are  sanctified  by  faith  that  is  in  Him."  In  declaring 
that  he  "  kept  back  nothing  that  was  profitable,"  the  apostle 
simply  says  that  he  "  testified  both  to  the  Jews,  and  also  to  the 
Greeks,  repentance  toward  God,  and  faith  toward  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

When  therefore  the  spirit  of  missions,  which  is  that  of  Chris- 
tianity, was  revived,  it  is  not  strange  that  a  desire  was  imme- 
diately felt  to  leave  behind,  in  the  onset  upon  heathendom,  all 
minor  questions  which  had  divided  Christians.  Accordingly, 
in  1795,  but  three  years  after  the  formation  of  the  British 
Baptist  Society,  the  London  Missionary  Society,  in  which  all 
evangelical  denominations  were  united,  was  formed.  In  its 
original  constitution  there  is  an  article  in  which  "  it  is  declared 
to  be  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  Missionary  Society  that 
our  design  is  not  to  send  Presbyterianism,  Independency,  Epis- 
copacy, or  any  other  form  of  church  order  and  government, 


HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE.  25 

(about  which  there  may  be  a  difference  of  opinion  among  seri- 
ous people,)  but  '  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the  blessed  God '  to 
the  heathen ;  and  it  shall  be  left  (as  it  ought  to  be  left)  to  the 
minds  of  the  persons  whom  God  may  call  into  the  fellowship 
of  his  Son  from  among  them,  to  assume  for  themselves  such 
form  of  church  government  as  to  them  shall  appear  most 
agreeable  to  the  word  of  God." 

The  adoption  of  this  principle  drew  the  hearts  of  Christians 
together  wonderfully.  We  are  told  that  "  the  visible  union  of 
Christians  of  all  denominations,  who,  for  the  first  time,  forget- 
ting their  party  prejudices  and  partialities, assembled  in  the  same 
place,  sang  the  same  hymns,  united  in  the  same  prayers,  and 
felt  themselves  one  in  Christ,  rendered  their  meetings  inex- 
pressibly delightful ;  "  also  that  the  "  unanimity  and  fervor 
of  the  assembly  in  entering  upon  this  greatest  of  all  schemes 
—  the  evangelizing  of  the  world  —  created  bursts  of  joy  which 
nothing  could  express  but  tears."  Blessed  meetings !  Blessed 
upheaval  of  great  truths,  where,  as  upon  a  high  table  land, 
Christians  could  walk  and  work  together,  and  look  down  upon 
their  differences,  and  claim  the  same  promises,  and  with  the 
eye  of  faith  sweep  the  horizon  of  the  whole  world  as  their 
common  field,  and  feel  how  much  more  there  is  that  unites 
than  there  is  that  divides  them.  Such  meetings,  fathers  and 
brethren,  we  have  held  ;  and  there  was  in  them  a  millennial 
aspect  and  atmosphere  that  could  not  have  been  without  such 
union.  In  this,  most  of  all,  do  we  miss  the  brethren  who  have 
left  us.  Why  should  not  we  at  home  be  united  as  the  mission- 
aries often  are,  and  must  be,  on  the  foreign  field  ?  "  We," 
says  one  of  them,  "  are  all  one  here  ;  we  can  not  afford  to  be 
jealous  —  the  common  foe  is  too  strong  ;  and  the  missionaries 
are  bound  together  neither  by  creeds  nor  human  ties,  but  by 
the  fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  Jesus."  Were  Christians  thus 
united  in  sending  and  planting  the  gospel,  the  church  —  the 
church,  in  distinction  from  a  church  —  would  be  carrying  on 
the  work  of  foreign  missions. 

If,  indeed,  there  be  any  denomination  that  so  claims  to  be 
exclusively  the  true  church,  that  they  think  others  are  not  com- 
4 


26  HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 

petent  to  administer,  or  fitted  to  receive,  all  the  ordinances  of 
the  church,  that  denomination  must,  so  far  as  they  thus  think, 
work  by  itself.  But  I  am  unable  to  frame  a  definition  of  the 
church,  that  would  meet  the  wants  of  those  who  accept  others 
as  Christians  in  full  standing,  as  equally  with  themselves  mem- 
bers of  the  one  church  of  Christ,  and  yet  insist  on  denomina- 
tional action  on  the  ground  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church, 
as  such,  to  carry  on  missions.  In  the  present  state  of  the 
churches,  denominational  action  may  be  more  efficient,  and  so, 
expedient.  Possibly  it  may  be  so  from  other  causes,  some 
"  present  distress,"  as  Paul  said  of  single  life,  but  I  can  not 
believe  it  to  be  God's  permanent  method.  No ;  as  surely  as  I 
expect  to  see  the  sun  advance  in  the  heavens,  do  I  expect  that 
the  hearts  of  Christians  will  be  more  and  more  drawn  together 
in  love,  and  that  the  principle  of  cooperation  will,  in  some 
form,  be  more  and  more  honored.  We  may  not  live  to  see  it ; 
present  indications  there  are,  not  auspicious ;  the  spring  may 
seem  to  go  back ;  but  we  have  seen  the  first  violet,  we  have 
heard  the  note  of  the  first  bird,  and  it  will  come.  "We  may 
die  in  the  wilderness,  but  it  will  come.  "  Swift  fly  the  years, 
and  rise  the  expected  morn ! " 

On  this  great  principle  the  American  Board  has  always  acted. 
What  we  have  done  here  we  have  done  simply  as  Christians, 
and  we  thank  God  for  the  privilege.  It  has  been  good  for  us 
thus  to  do  it.  And  what  we  have  thus  done,  may  God  give 
us  grace  always  to  do. 

This  feature  of  cooperation  and  of  unsectarianism  has  been 
the  more  dwelt  upon  because  it  involves  so  fully  the  first  great 
molding  element  mentioned  above.  Having  faith  in  God  as 
the  ground  of  our  confidence,  and  love  to  Christ  and  sympa- 
thy with  him  in  saving  men  from  their  sins  as  our  motive,  our 
method  is  to  send  —  no,  not  to  send,  but  to  give  —  the  means  of 
going,  to  men  qualified  and  authorized,  and  whom  we  believe 
the  Holy  Ghost  sends,  and  to  leave  to  them  the  largest  dis- 
cretion compatible  with  a  faithful  administration  of  the  means 
intrusted  to  us.  We  say  to  them,  So  make  known  the  truth 
as  to  bring  men  into  a  filial  relation  to  God,  and  we  are 


HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE.  27 

content  to  leave  minor  questions  to  the  good  sense  of  those  on 
the  ground,  guided  by  the  Scriptures  and  the  Spirit  of  God. 

A  second  feature  of  the  work,  accordant  with  the  above,  if 
not  a  necessary  part  of  it,  is  the  entire  separation  of  the  mis- 
sionary work  from  any  ecclesiastical  organization  or  machinery. 

This  has  lifted  up,  practically,  a  catholic  standard ;  has  con- 
secrated the  work  in  the  hearts  of  Christians  as  one  free  from 
sectarian  feeling  and  strife ;  and  has  led  to  united  and  special 
prayer.  It  has  also  left  the  missionaries  free  from  outward 
ecclesiastical  pressure,  to  take  their  own  time  and  way  in  giv- 
ing form  to  the  new  Christian  communities  which  they  have 
gathered  from  the  heathen.  They  have  been  left  as  were  the 
primitive  missionaries,  and  this  has  often  led  to  the  precise 
reproduction  of  no  one  of  our  forms.  When  called  upon  to 
give  their  churches  a  name  according  to  our  shibboleths,  the 
missionaries  ha^ve  declined,  and  have  called  them  apostolical. 
They  are  so.  They  were  founded  as  were  the  apostolical 
churches,  and  going  with  the  Scriptures  instead  of  inspiration, 
the  missionaries  hold  much  the  same  relation  to  those  churches 
that  the  apostles  and  evangelists  did  to  the  churches  founded 
by  them.  They  found  churches ;  they  decide  in  the  first  instance, 
and  afterward  with  those  churches,  who  may  unite  with  them ; 
they  ordain  elders,  bishops,  pastors ;  and  pass  on  to  other  re- 
gions. In  all  this  they  act  as  ministers  of  Christ,  amenable 
to  the  Board  only  as  it  furnishes  their  support,  and  because, 
having  confidence  in  them,  it  does  thus  furnish  it  that  they 
may  labor  for  Christ.  How  could  the  missionary  be  more 
independent  ?  We  say  to  him,  he  having  it  in  his  heart,  and 
offering  to  go,  We  have  confidence  in  you,  brother.  Take 
the  lamp  of  life,  ask  counsel  if  you  need  it,  but  find  your  own 
way  in  the  darkness,  and  we  will  send  you  oil. 

A  third  feature  of  our  work,  in  the  same  line  and  spirit,  is, 
that  each  mission  is  a  self-governing  body. 

In  this  our  missions  differ  from  the  European  ;  but  it  is  in 
accordance  with  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  and  general 
habits  of  thought  and  action,  both  civil  and  religious.  It  is 
also  said  in  the  Scriptures,  that  "  the  spirits  of  the  prophets 


28  HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE. 

are  subject  to  the  prophets."  This  makes  each  mission  a  de- 
pository of  experience  of  great  value,  and  forms  a  permanent, 
practical,  working  body,  into  which  succeeding  missionaries 
are  received,  and  to  which  they  naturally  conform.  It  thus 
operates  as  a  check  upon  inexperience  and  one-sidedness,  and 
those  excessive  developments  of  individuality  which  never  fail 
to  appear  where  motives  are  stimulating  and  complex,  and 
numbers  are  working  independently  for  the  accomplishment 
of  a  great  and  many-sided  end. 

A  fourth  feature  of  the  work  is  directly  from  our  estimate 
of  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  the  power  of  that,  as  already 
mentioned. 

The  power  is  in  the  cross.  Nothing  but  the  mingled  holi- 
ness and  mercy  revealed  in  that  can  quicken  and  regenerate 
the  world.  Holiness  seen  in  God  shows  more\the  necessity 
of  it  to  himself,  and  mercy  renders  its  attainment  possible. 
Forgiveness !  Ultimate  likeness  to  God  !  Let  the  hope  of 
these  dawn  on  the  soul,  and  there  is  a  spring  of  spiritual 
activity  that  will  work  toward  its  end,  and  in  accomplishing 
that,  will  accomplish  all  else  that  we  desire.  The  greater 
includes  the  less.  Life  started  at  the  heart  will  work  outward. 
Hence  we  make  the  cross  of  Christ  the  center,  and  value  and 
use  all  else  as  related  to  that. 

But  can  we  thus  reach  and  quicken  the  religious  nature  of 
the  heathen  ?  Yes,  just  as  of  others.  The  vital  air  is  the 
same  to  them  as  to  us ;  and  so,  when  accompanied  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  are  the  truths  revealed  in  the  cross.  He  who  opened 
the  heart  of  Lydia  can  open  every  benighted  heart,  and  our 
great  hope  is  that  he  will.  Hence,  the  conversion  of  men 
being  our  object,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  the  agent,  the  presen- 
tation of  spiritual  truth  and  prayer  must  be  our  chief  instru- 
mentalities. 

This  is  the  spiritual  side  of  missions  ;  from  it  is  their  life  ; 
but  with  this  many  have  no  sympathy.  Denying,  either  theo- 
retically or  practically,  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  the  reality  of 
spiritual  influence,  and  the  necessity  of  conversion,  both  means 
and  end  seem  to  them  foolishness.  They  either  contemn  the 


HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE.  29 

whole  process  and  results,  or,  in  a  more  dignified  way,  regard 
the  missionaries  and  their  supporters  as  well-meaning  people, 
who  do  good  on  the  whole  ;  or,  appreciating  candidly  the  out- 
ward changes  wrought,  they  fail  to  connect  them  with  their 
true  cause. 

These  persons  we  are  "  not  careful  to  answer."  If  we 
choose,  we  may  say  to  them  as  philosophers,  that  we  regard 
human  destiny  as  turning  upon  character ;  that  great  trans- 
formations of  character  have  been  known  only  from  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus ;  and  that  character  being  right,  all  desirable 
results  of  political  economy  and  social  order,  and  a  high,  pure, 
and  permanent  civilization,  will  follow.  Or,  historically,  we 
may  point  them  to  the  Sandwich  Islands ;  or  to  the  Zulus  in 
Africa ;  or  to  unimpeachable  testimony,  both  English  and 
American,  that  our  devoted  and  spiritual  missionaries  have 
done  more  within  the  last  twenty-five  years  for  the  enlighten- 
ment and  liberty  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  than  all  other  agen- 
cies for  the  last  fifty  years ;  and  we  might  challenge  them  to 
show  similar  results  from  other  causes.  But  we  walk  by  faith. 
It  is  enough  for  us  that  the  Master  has  said,  "  Go  preach  my 
gospel."  That  we  have  done  this  in  its  primitive  simplicity 
and  power,  we  do  not  claim.  There  has  been  some  diversity 
of  views.  In  the  different  missions  the  general  spirit  and  ten- 
dencies may  have  been  somewhat  different.  But  this  has  been 
our  general  aim.  Experience  has  confirmed  its  wisdom,  and 
has  led  and  is  leading  us  to  feel  more  and  more,  that  here, 
in  distinction  from  all  direct  efforts  at  general  enlightenment 
and  civilization,  our  great  strength  lies. 

But  leaving  other  features  of  the  work,  we  turn  to  the 
agencies  —  the  human  agencies  employed,  and  their  relation 
to  each  other.  These  are  the  Missionaries,  and  the  Mission- 
ary Board. 

Of  these,  the  Missionaries  were  first.  This  was  no  scheme 
of  men  seeking  agents  to  accomplish  their  own  ends.  The 
missionaries  were  ready  and  importunate  to  go,  and  the  Board 
was  formed  simply  as  a  means  of  sending  them.  From  the 
first,  missionaries  fiave  been  sent  only  as  they  have  offered 


30  HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 

themselves,  and  (with  the  single  exception  of  some  delay  in 
the  crisis  of  1837)  every  one  thus  offering,  and  regarded  as 
duly  qualified,  has  been  sent. 

It  is  these  missionaries  who  have  done  the  work.  All  that 
has  been  done  has  been  done  by  and  through  them.  Quick- 
ened by  the  spirit  of  apostolic  times,  which  has  begun  to 
reappear  in  our  day,  obeying  the  command  of  the  Saviour, 
"  Go  ye,"  and  sustained  by  his  promise, "  Lo,  I  am  with  you," 
they  have  not  hesitated  to  take  the  one  simple  gospel  and 
apply  it  alike  to  a  hideous  Cannibalism,  to  a  polished  Brah- 
minism,  to  an  Atheistic  Buddhism,  to  an  intolerant  Mohamme- 
danism, to  a  besotted  Fetishism,  and  to  a  paganized  Chris- 
tianity ;  and,  as  blindness  and  deafness  and  leprosy,  palsy  and 
fever  and  demoniacal  possession,  yielded  at  the  touch  of  the 
Great  Physician,  so  has  every  form  of  moral  evil  given  way 
before  his  one  great  remedy  for  the  deeper  maladies  of  man. 

In  thus  carrying  the  gospel,  the  missionaries  have  exhib- 
ited the  highest  type  of  heroism,  which  is  self-sacrifice  for  the 
highest  object ;  while  they  have  yet  fallen  so  far  short  of 
Christ  that  there  is  no  danger  of  hero-worship.  Eternity  alone 
will  reveal  the  self-sacrifice  there  has  been,  in  partings  from 
friends  and  country ;  in  exposures  from  climate ;  in  priva- 
tions ;  in  standing  as  representatives  of  a  foreign  and  antag- 
onist system,  avowing  its  purpose,  not  only,  as  here,  to  destroy 
all  cherished  wickedness  of  the  heart,  but  to  overthrow  those 
external  forms  of  religion  around  which  the  most  sacred  asso- 
ciations cluster ;  in  the  yearnings  and  long  patience  required 
by  stolidity,  by  deception  seemingly  bottomless,  by  malignity ; 
in  those  sunderings  of  affection  when  loved  ones  have  died  in 
a  foreign  land,  and  when  the  Christian  mother,  compelled  to 
send  her  children  from  her,  has  turned  from  the  shore,  and 
with  streaming  eyes  has  said,  "  I  do  this  for  thee,  Jesus." 

For  our  missionaries  thus  devoting  themselves,  we  claim  no 
exemption  from  the  common  weaknesses  and  infirmities  of 
men.  In  them,  as  in  others,  there  have  sometimes  been 
strange  blendings  of  the  good  and  the  evil ;  but,  looking  over 
the  whole  ground,  this  Board  has  special  occasion  for  thank- 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE.  31 

fulness  in  view  of  a  body  of  missionaries  so  competent  and 
efficient.  I  deem  it  no  presumption  to  say,  that  in  qualifica- 
tions for  such  a  work  some  of  them  have  not  been  exceeded 
since  apostolic  times.  This  has  been  owing  partly  to  the  high 
qualifications  demanded  of  candidates,  and  partly  to  the 
responsibility  thrown  upon  them. 

For  a  missionary,  the  two  essential  qualifications  are,  conse- 
cration and  common  sense.  Consecration  comes  from  piety 
directed  into  the  missionary  channel ;  but  common  sense, 
though  generally  supposed  to  be  the  gift  of  Nature,  is  yet  her 
gift  only  in  connection  with  the  repeated  and  vigorous  exercise 
of  the  faculties  in  the  spheres  where  it  is  to  be  used,  and  no 
power  is  more  capable  of  improvement.  Let,  then,  the  mis- 
sionary be  required,  as  he  often  has  been,  to  provide  a  written 
language,  implements,  dwellings,  institutions ;  to  advance  an 
imperfect,  or  to  renovate  an  effete  civilization,  being  thus 
brought  into  practical  contact  with  life  and  man  at  every  vital 
point ;  and  whatever  there  is  in  him  of  a  capacity  for  common 
sense  will  be  drawn  out,  and  the  more  fully  the  more  the 
responsibility  is  laid  upon  him. 

So  have  the  men  been  formed,  who,  after  the  period  of 
nearly  a  generation,  have  returned,  and  have  surprised  and 
delighted  the  churches  by  their  tact,  and  broad  experience,  and 
thrilling  eloquence,  and  ripe  wisdom.  So,  as  far  as  they  have 
been  tested,  has  it  come  to  pass  that  the  high  encomium  passed 
by  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  upon  one  of  our  missions  is  not  less 
applicable  to  others.  This  encomium,  from  the  position  and 
relations  of  its  author,  demands  a  place  here.  "  I  do  not 
believe,"  says  he,  "  that  in  the  whole  history  of  missions,  I  do 
not  believe  that  in  the  history  of  diplomacy,  or  in  the  history 
of  any  negotiations  carried  on  between  man  and  man,  we  can 
find  any  thing  to  equal  the  wisdom,  the  soundness,  and  the 
pure  evangelical  truth  of  the  body  of  men  who  constitute  the 
American  Mission.  I  have  said  it  twenty  times  before,  and  I 
will  say  it  again,  —  for  the  expression  appropriately  conveys 
my  meaning,  —  that  they  are  a  marvelous  combination  of  com- 
mon sense  and  piety.  .  .  .  There  they  stand,  tested  by  years, 


32  HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 

tried  by  their  works,  and  exemplified  by  their  fruits ;  and  I 
believe  it  will  be  found  that  these  American  missionaries  have 
done  more  toward  upholding  the  truth  and  spreading  the 
gospel  of  Christ  in  the  East  than  any  other  body  of  men  in 
this  or  any  other  age." 

From  the  missionaries  we  turn  to  the  Board.  Of  this  the 
true  conception  is,  that  it  is  simply  an  instrumentality  to 
enable  Christians  who  can  not  go  themselves,  to  fulfill  by  proxy 
the  last  command  of  the  Saviour.  When  it  does  this  in  the 
best  way,  it  answers  its  end  ;  when  it  fails  to  do  this,  or  does 
any  thing  aside  from  this,  it  does  not  answer  its  end.  With 
every  Christian  the  question  is,  or  ought  to  be,  How,  soonest 
and  best,  may  the  gospel  be  preached  to  every  creature  ?  And, 
except  as  accomplishing  this,  instrumentalities  and  Boards  are 
nothing.  It  does  not  appear  that  there  were  Boards  of  any 
kind  in  the  primitive  church,  or  that  Christianity  was  origi- 
nally propagated  by  any  kind  of  associated  action,  whether  of 
a  church,  or  churches,  or  the  church.  The  command  to  preach 
the  gospel  was  not  to  churches  as  such,  but  to  individuals. 
Sent  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  were  Barnabas  and  Saul,  scattered 
by  persecution,  they  "  went  every  where  preaching  the  word ; " 
but  there  was  no  central  body  with  annual  meetings  to  direct 
them,  and  to  which  they  were  required  to  report.  It  does  not 
even  appear  that  there  was  any  general  contribution  for  the 
spread  of  the  gospel,  the  only  one  mentioned  having  been  for 
the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem.  The  method  was  that  of  indi- 
vidual action,  with  occasional  consultations,  as  circumstances 
required.  And  this  was  the  true  method.  It  was  this  that 
was  in  the  mind  of  Mills  when  he  said  he  wished  we  could 
"  break  forth  upon  the  heathen  like  the  Irish  rebellion,  forty 
thousand  strong."  There  is  no  good  reason  why  Christian  men, 
merchants,  farmers,  artisans,  men  of  property,  and  men  with- 
out it,  should  not  go  into  heathen  lands,  and  establish  them- 
selves there  for  the  purpose  of  spreading  Christianity,  just  as 
men  go  to  California  or  Pike's  Peak  to  get  gold.  A  move- 
ment like  this,  spontaneous,  irrepressible,  requiring  no  agents 
and  no  Boards,  would  speedily  do  the  work. 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE.  83 

But  if  Boards  are  not  required  in  the  New  Testament,  nei- 
ther are  they  forbidden.  If,  for  the  present,  an  intermediate 
instrumentality  must  be  had,  and  Boards  are  the  best,  let  us 
use  them,  only  having  them  so  constituted  that  they  will  be 
the  most  effective.  This,  this  only,  do  we  wish  for  this  Amer- 
ican Board.  It  is  the  pioneer  and  parent  Board ;  and  for  the 
work  it  has  had  to  do,  and  has  done,  perhaps  it  could  not  have 
been  better  constituted.  That  that  work  has  been  free  from 
mistakes  we  do  not  claim ;  but  we  do  claim  that  God  has  set 
his  seal  upon  it  as  his ;  and  we  believe  that  it  will  stand  in  the 
past  as  a  granite  hight,  looming  up  more  and  more  as  the  dis> 
tance  becomes  greater. 

But  while  fifty  years  have  but  Lightened  our  respect  for 
that  wisdom  by  which  this  Board  was  founded,  have  they  not 
wrought  silent  changes  in  public  sentiment,  requiring  in  it  some 
modification  ?  If  so,  let  it  be  modified.  Let  us  have  no  con- 
servatism for  its  own  sake.  When  change  becomes  necessary 
to  accomplish  the  original  end  of  an  institution,  then  change 
is  conservatism.  "We  now  stand  upon  a  iiight  where  it  be- 
comes us  to  use  every  light  of  Scripture,  and  reason,  and  expe- 
rience, and  to  be  flexible  to  every  indication  of  the  will  of  God 
in  regard  to  the  future.  Now  is  the  time ,  to  cast  off  hinder- 
ances,  and  lay  aside  weights,  and  gird  ourselves  anew.  We 
wish  an  organization  that  shall  be  the  most  efficient  abroad, 
and  work  without  friction  at  home.  That  we  can  not  have  till 
men  shall  be  perfect.  But  while  we  would  feel,  economy  and 
efficiency  being  secured,  that  the  question  of  organization  is 
wholly  secondary,  —  so  the  water  of  life  be  only  carried,  it 
matters  little  how,  —  we  would  yet  have,  and  feel  that  we  have, 
the  best  that  is  practicable.  We  wish  the  churches  to  feel  this, 
and  would  welcome  —  I  think  I  may  speak  for  the  members 
of  this  Board  in  this  —  would  welcome  suggestions  to  this  end. 
So  would  we  work  on  in  this  imperfect  way  of  organizations, 
till  the  hightened  zeal  and  swelling  bounty  of  Christians  shall 
rise  and  overflow  all  channels  of  Boards,  and  swamp  all  ma- 
chinery, and  sweep  on  as  a  mighty  tidal  wave,  bearing  salva- 
tion around  the  globe. 
5 


34  HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 

Thus  have  I  sought  to  meet  the  appointment  of  this  Board, 
in  commemorating  this  work  of  God,  its  features,  and  its  in- 
struments. 

The  great  lessons  to  us  of  the  text,  and  of  the  retrospect, 
are  two. 

The  first  —  that,  it  may  be,  specially  needed  now  —  is  one  of 
humility.  "  Look  unto  the  rock  whence  ye  are  hewn,  and  to 
the  hole  of  the  pit  whence  ye  are  digged."  Our  beginning, 
so  feeble,  was  in  self-consecration,  in  dependence  upon  God, 
in  humility,  and  in  prayer ;  and  the  method  of  God  for  the 
increase  of  his  kingdom  involved  in  such  a  beginning,  it  be- 
comes us  to  weigh  well.  That  method  has  not  been  reversed. 
"  Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth 
alone."  The  handful  >of  corn  upon  the  top  of  the  mountains 
must  germinate  unseen,  and  give  itself  up  to  a  process  in 
which  itself  shall  be  lost,  before  its  fruit  can  shake  like  Leba- 
non. So  was  it  with  Christ ;  so  must  it  be  with  us.  It  is  from 
self-sacrifice,  and  consecration  in  the  very  spirit  of  Christ,  that 
fruit  comes  in  this 'work  —  from  these  always,  from  these  only. 
In  carrying  his  gospel  to  others,  his  people  must  "  fill  up  that 
which  is  behind  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ."  When  the  secret 
sympathy  with  him,  the  hidden  work  at  the  root,  decays  or 
ceases,  the  outward  work  will  decay  or  cease.  It  is  in  vain  to 
talk  of  philosophies  here.  The  work  is  of  God,  or  it  is  noth- 
ing ;  and  what  we  have  to  do  is  to  put  ourselves  in  such  a 
position  that  we  can  work  with  him.  That  this  position  is  one 
of  humility  God  has  been  fain  to  teach  us,  not  by  our  origin 
alone.  In  various  ways  has  he  humbled  us,  and  proved  us,  in 
all  the  way  which  he  has  led  us  these  fifty  years ;  and  if  now, 
in  coming  up  to  these  bights,  and  looking  over  so  great  a 
work,  there  should  be  any  of  that  spirit  which  once  said,  "  Is 
not  this  great  Babylon,  that  I  have  builded  ?  "  that  spirit  will 
be  rebuked.  To  no  place  could  it  be  more  unsuited.  Far 
rather  does  it  become  us  to  humble  ourselves  that  we  have 
done  so  little,  to  wonder  at  the  grace  that  could  accept  of  such 
an  instrumentality,  and  to  cry,  "  Not  unto  us,  0  Lord,  not 
unto  us." 


HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE.  35 

Our  second  great  lesson  is  one  of  hope.  Humility  and  hope 
—  these  are  the  whole  teaching  of  the  buried  seed.  Seeming 
opposites,  they  are  typified  in  nature ;  but  Christianity  alone 
could  blend  them  in  mutual  support  and  augmented  beauty. 
Humility  and  hope  !  —  a  hope  as  high  as  the  humility  is  pro- 
found, because  both  are  from  our  relation  to  the  Saviour — now 
as  crucified,  now  as  risen.  "  God  forbid  that  we  should  glory, 
save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  That  is  humility. 
God  forbid  that  we  should  not  glory  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
as  triumphant  over  the  death  of  the  cross,  and  as  having  all 
power  given  unto  him  in  heaven  and  upon  earth.  That  is 
hope.  The  work  that  God  has  begun,  and  to  which  he  has 
pledged  himself  in  the  death  of  his  Son,  we  believe  that  he 
will  carry  on.  We  look  to  a  personal  being ;  we  are  soldiers 
under  the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  and  obey  a  command  and 
rest  on  promises.  We  make  a  distinction,  strongly  pro- 
nounced, between  confidence  in  a  personal  being,  which  is 
faith,  and  a  knowledge  of  uniform  facts  and  tendencies,  which 
is  philosophy;  and  we  adopt  faith  as  the  principle  of  our 
action,  not  as  opposed  to  reason,  but  as  reason  itself  in  its 
highest  form.  As  our  confidence  is  wholly  in  a  personal  being, 
it  is  faith ;  as  it  is  confidence  in  God,  it  is  also  reason  ;  and 
if  we  may  but  have,  as  we  have  in  this  work,  a  command  that 
is  explicit,  then  tendencies  are  no  more  to  us  than  the  tenden- 
cy of  water  to  a  level  was  to  the  Israelites  when  they  passed 
through  the  Red  Sea.  Let  the  waters  pile  themselves  to  the 
heavens,  let  them  overarch  us  if  they  will  —  we  move  on. 
Let  us  but  have  such  a  command,  and  the  wisdom  of  faith  is  as 
much  higher  than  that  of  philosophy,  as  the  wisdom  and  power 
of  God  are  higher  than. those  of  man.  Balancing  tendencies 
alone,  we  should  have  no  hope.  Looking  at  the  command  and 
the  promises,  we  have  no  doubt.  We  do  not  disregard  tenden- 
cies. We  think  the  set  of  the  long  currents  is  with  us ;  but 
there  are  now,  there  always  have  been,  calms,  arid  shoals,  and  . 
counter-currents,  and  it  is  only  by  faith  that  we  can  believe 
that  the  breeze  shall  ever  spring  up,  and  the  tide  rise,  that  shall 
bear  us  beyond  them. 


36  HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE. 

What  the  precise  blending  is  to  be  of  those  two  great  ele- 
ments of  change,  tendencies  and  personal  interposition,  or  how 
long  the  unchecked  current  of  tendencies  is  to  run,  it  is  not 
for  us  to  say.  God  makes  haste  slowly.  The  bud  is  formed, 
and  then  winter  intervenes.  The  baffled  spring  lingers.  Ac- 
cording to  geology,  the  days  were  long  while  tendencies  did 
their  tardy  work  of  upheavings  and  deposits.  For  four  thou- 
sand years  the  ages  were  in  preparation  for  the  coming  of 
Christ.  But  at  length  God  said,  "  Let  us  make  man ; "  at 
length  "  the  Desire  of  all  nations  "  came.  Personality  asserted 
a  visible  supremacy,  tendencies  were  seen  to  be  flexible  to  will, 
and  special  interposition  reached  its  high-water  mark,  up  to 
the  present  time. 

But  we  now  wait  for  another  and  broader  movement.  We 
think  that  prophecy  and  converging  tendencies  both  indicate 
that  we  are  nearing,  and  rapidly  too,  a  point  from  which  a  new 
epoch  is  to  open.  As  at  the  coming  of  Christ  there  were  mus- 
ings and  forebodings,  and  the  quickened  sense  caught  presage 
of  coming  change,  so  it  is  now.  The  very  air  is  full  of  its 
voices.  The  fig  tree  puts  forth  leaves.  For  the  first  time  since 
the  dispersion  of  men,  is  the  world  waking  up  to  the  conscious- 
ness of  itself  as  one  whole.  Hardly  yet  do  we  comprehend 
fully  the  great  thought  of  the  Master,  that  "  the  field  is  the 
world."  In  their  early  dispersions,  men  diverged  as  upon  a 
plain.  That  plain  they  now  find  to  be  a  globe,  upon  which 
divergence  becomes  approximation  and  ultimate  unity.  The 
circuit  of  that  globe,  with  every  continent,  and  island,  and 
ocean  that  it  rolls  up  to  the  sunlight,  or  buries  in  its  shadow, 
is  now  known  ;  and  this  it  is  that  we  are  to  conquer  for  Christ. 
How  wide  the  field,  compared  with  that  of  primitive  missions ! 
How  wide  the  work  now,  compared  with  it  then !  Never  before 
was  there  such  a  theater  for  the  action  of  moral  forces ;  never 
before  were  there  such  forces  to  act ;  or  such  subordination  of 
nature  to  them,  giving  them  new  facilities,  and  instruments 
of  mightiest  power ;  and  never  before  were  these  forces  taking 
their  positions,  and  mustering  themselves  in  such  relations,  as 


HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE.  .         37 

now.  The  old  issues  and  specters  of  fear  are  passing.  The 
papacy  is  reeling ;  the  crescent  is  waning  ;  idolatry  is  totter- 
ing ;  infidelity  is  shifting  its  ground  and  hesitating ;  the  masses 
are  upheaving.  The  power  of  those  great  principles  of  liberty 
and  equality,  which  are  Christ's  gospel  on  its  human  side,  is 
beneath  them,  like  that  of  the  earthquake,  and  oppression  and 
slavery  are  seeing  the  hand  writing  upon  the  wall,  and  the  joints 
of  their  loins  are  being  loosed.  And  Christians  are  praying 
and  giving,  and  when  the  cry  comes  for  special  help  they  hear 
it ;  and  there  is  joy  and  thanksgiving  in  ten  thousand  hearts 
this  night  that  they  do ;  and  the  battalions  in  the  great  army 
are  nearing  each  other,  and  the  shout  of  each  becomes  more 
distinct  in  the  camp  of  the  other ;  and  to-night  we  lift  our 
shout,  and  hold  forth  the  hand  of  fellowship  in  this  work  to  all 
who  love  the  Lord  Jesus.  And  more  than  all,  the  Spirit  of  God 
is  poured  out,  and  revivals  are  extending,  and  these  showers 
of  divine  grace  so  descend  as  to  show  what  "  the  great  rain  of 
his  strength  "  may  be.  Now  the  field  rounds  itself  out  into  some 
proportion  to  the  love  of  God  in  sending  his  Son ;  now  that 
achievement  comes  up  into  its  place  for  which  the  mighty  ener- 
gies that  have  been  perverted  in  war  and  worldliness  were 
intended ;  now  we  see  the  full  contrast  between  the  solitary 
Sufferer  upon  Calvary  and  his  work ;  and  looking  upon  him 
and  upon  it,  we  say,  Yes,  thou  Man  of  sorrows,  thorn-crowned 
and  buffeted,  it  shall  all  be  thine.  He  "  shall  give  thee  the 
heathen  for  thine  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth  for  thy  possession."  Looking  upon  him  and  upon  it, 
we  join  our  voice  to  that  of  the  heavenly  host,  saying,  "  Wor- 
thy is  the  Lamb,  that  was  slain,  to  receive  power,  and  riches, 
and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing." 

Brethren,  we  rejoice  that  we  live  in  this  day,  and  may  have 
a  part  in  this  work.  It  is  not  for  us  "  to  know  the  times  or  the 
seasons,  which  the  Father  hath  put  in  his  own  power."  It  is 
not  for  the  husbandman  to  bring  on  the  summer.  It  is  for 
him  to  sow  and  plant,  and  wait  the  movement  of  the  heavens. 


443276 


38  HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE. 

So  let  us,  so  let  every  Christian  go  forth  —  weeping  if  need 
be — bearing  precious  seed;  let  us  sow  beside  all  waters;  let 
us  see  that  there  shall  be  the  handful  of  corn  upon  the  top  of 
every  mountain,  and  God  will  see  that  "  the  fruit  thereof  shall 
shake  like  Lebanon." 


THE    BOARD. 


THE    BOAKD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ORIGIN   OF  THE  BOARD. 

Immediate  Occasion  of  its  Formation.  —  Society  of  "  The  Brethren."— The  Memorial- 
ists.—  Author  of  the  Memorial — Samuel  J.  Mills.  —  Gordon  Hall.  —  Influence  of 
the  Andover  Seminary.  —  Response  of  Leading  Men  in  the  Churches. —  Institution 
of  the  Board.  —  Who  first  suggested  the  Idea. —  Remoter  Influences.  —  Mr.  Jud- 
son's  Visit  to  England,  and  its  Result.  —  State  of  the  Times. —  Hall's  Letters  from 
Philadelphia.  —  Mr.  Rice.  —  Ordination  of  the  First  Missionaries.  —  Previous  Mis- 
givings of  the  Prudential  Committee. 

THE  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions had  its  origin  in  the  desire  of  several  young  men  in  the 
Andover  Theological  Seminary  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the 
heathen  world.  The  four  names  appended  to  the  memorial 
to  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  which  was  the 
immediate  occasion  of  forming  the  Board,  were  Adqniram 
Judson,  Samuel_  Nott,  Samuel  J.  Mills,  and  Samuel  Newell. 
Mills  is  known  to  have  come  under  a  written  pledge  to  engage 
in  a  mission  to  the  heathen  as  early  as  September,  1808.  He 
was  a  member  of  Williams  College  ;  and  then  and  there  a 
society  was  formed,  through  his  agency,  called  "The  Breth- 
ren,"  which  had  for  its  object  "  to  effect,  in  the  persons  of  its 
members,  a  mission  or  missions  to  the  heathen."  This  society 
was  transferred,  with  its  constitution  and  records,  to  the  Sem- 
inary at  Andover,  in  the  year  ISO^or  early  in  181Q,  and  has 
continued  to  the  present  time.  It  is  distinct  from  the  "  Society 
of  Inquiry  respecting  Missions,"  though  its  members  are  of 

(41) 


42  THE   BOARD. 

course  connected  with  that  well-known  and  useful  body.  The 
memorialists  were  each  from  a  different  college  ;  Judson  being 
a  graduate  of  Brown,  Nott  of  Union,  Newell  of  Harvard,  and 
Mills  of  Williams.  There  is  good  reason  for  the  belief  that 
the  hallowed  flame  in  each  of  these  brethren  had  not  its  origin 
in  man.  Mr.  Nott  distinctly  avers  that  the  "  starting  point 
and  early  progress  "  of  the  movement  in  his  mind,  was  "  with- 
out any  knowledge  of  the  existence  "  of  those  who  were  so 
soon  to  be  his  associates.  He  spent  only  one  year  at  Andover, 
going  thither  in  November,  1809.  Hall,  Judson,  Newell,  and 
Nott  were  of  the  class  that  finished  its  course  in  1810,  which 
was  the  earliest  class  except  one  in  that  institution.  Mills 
was  in  the  class  of  1812.  Hall  was  there  during  only  a  part 
of  the  last  year,  coming  about  the  time  of  the  General  Asso- 
ciation ;  which  is  presumed  to  be  the  reason  his  name  was  not 
on  the  memorial.  When  Judson  came  to  Andover  in  1808, 
he  had  not  attained  even  to  a  confirmed  belief  in  Christianity ; 
but  his  mind  was  in  an  inquiring  state,  and  he  soon  united 
himself  heartily  to  the  people  of  God.  The  reading  of  Bu- 
chanan's "  Star  in  the  East,"  in  1809,  led  him  to  reflect  upon 
his  duty  to  the  heathen,  and  in  February  of  the  next  year  he 
resolved  to  devote  his  life  to  a  foreign  mission  ;  not  then 
knowing  that  there  were  others  in  the  Seminary,  or  even  in 
the  country,  who  had  come  to  the  same  resolution.  The 
memorial  to  the  General  Association  was  drawn  up  by  Mr. 
Judson ;  and  his  standing  as  a  scholar  and  great  energy  of 
character  make  it  quite  certain  that  he  exerted  a  leading 
influence  in  the  measures  which  gave  occasion  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Board  at  that  time.  But  the  fact  that  the  name 
of  Mills  was  attached  to  the  memorial,  though  he  was  then  in 
the  Junior  class,  shows  that  he  also  was  acknowledged  by  his 
brethren  as  a  leader  in  this  movement.  Such  was  his  shrink- 
ing from  the  public  eye,  that  we  may  believe  his  name  was 
there,  and  the  third  on  the  list,  only  at  the  earnest  solicitation 
of  all  his  associates.  The  names  of  Luther  Rice  and  James 
Richards  were  appended  to  the  paper,  but  happening  to  stand 
last,  "  they  were  struck  off,"  as  we  learn  from  Dr.  Judson, 


ORIGIN    OP   THE   BOARD.  43 

"  at  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Spring,  for  fear  of  alarming  the 
Association  with  too  large  a  number."  Rice  was  in  the  class 
of  1811.  Richards  had  subscribed  the  pledge  in  Williams 
College  as  early  as  1808,  and  was  in  the  class  of  Mills  both 
at  college  and  at  Andover.  Hall  was  one  of  the  ablest  mis- 
sionaries from  the  American  churches.  His  graduation  at 
Williams  College  —  as  was  Judson's  at  Brown  —  was  with  the 
highest  honors  of  his  class.  Mills  was  two  years  the  junior  of 
Hall  in  college  ;  but,  upon  the  conversion  of  the  latter,  in  the 
third  year  of  his  course,  the  sagacity  of  that  remarkable  man 
singled  him  out  for  a  foreign  missionary  ;  and  so  strong  were 
Mills's  convictions,  that  he  declared  Hall  to  be  "  ordained  and 
stamped  a  missionary  by  the  sovereign  hand  of  God." 

In  the  autumn  of  1809,  Hall  received  a  call  to  become  pas- 
tor of  a  church  in  Connecticut.  "  Then,"  says  Dr.  Ebene- 
zer  Porter,  who  was  his  theological  teacher  in  Connecticut,  — 
"  then  the  heart  of  the  missionary  came  out.  Then  was 
revealed  the  secret  so  long  cherished  between  himself  and  his 
beloved  brother  Samuel  J.  Mills.  These  kindred  spirits, 
associates  in  college,  often  interchanged  visits  afterward, 
mutually  enkindling  that  holy  flame  which  nothing  but  death 
could  extinguish  in  their  own  bosoms,  and  which  has  since 
extended  its  sacred  influences  to  so  many  thousands  of  other 
hearts.  The  general  purpose  of  these  devoted  young  men  was 
fixed.  Sometimes  they  talked  of  '  cutting  a  path  through 
the  moral  wilderness  of  the  West  to  the  Pacific.'  Sometimes 
they  thought  of  South  America ;  then  of  Africa.  Their  object 
was  the  salvation  of  the  heathen ;  but  no  specific  shape  was  •/ 
given  to  their  plans  till  the  formation  of  the  American  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions.  Beforethis  pejiod  the  churches  were 
_asleej)..  Even  ministers  were  but  half  awake.  To  many  it 
seemed  a  visionary  thing  in  Mr.  Hall,  that  he  should  decline 
an  invitation  to  settle,  attended  with  so  many  attractive  cir- 
cumstances, and  so  much  prospect  of  usefulness.  But  I  can 
never  forget  with  what  a  glistening  eye  and  firm  accent  this 
youthful  pioneer  of  foreign  missions,  full  of  faith  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  said,  '  No ;  I  must  uot  settle  in  any  parish  of 


44  THE  BOARD. 

Christendom.  Others  will  be  left,  whose  health  or  engage- 
ments require  them  to  stay  at  home  ;  but  I  can  sleep  on  the 
ground ;  can  endure  hunger  and  hardship ;  God  calls  me  to 
1  the  heathen ;  woe  to  me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel  to  the 
heathen.'  He  went ;  and  the  day  of  judgment,  while  it 
tells  the  results  of  his  labors,  will  rebuke  the  apathy  with 
which  others  have  slumbered  over  the  miseries  of  dying 
pagans." 

The  institution  of  the  Andover  Seminary,  at  the  time  when 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  interesting  the  minds  of  graduates  from 
different  colleges  in  the  work  of  a  foreign  mission,  is  worthy 
of  grateful  notice.  It  was  the  only  way  in  which  they  could 
be  brought  into  circumstances  favorable  to  personal  acquaint- 
ance, and  for  associating  and  acting  together.  Nor  should  we 
omit  to  notice  the  important  fact,  that  the  missionary  spirit 
should  have  been  enkindled  in  the  hearts  of  such  men  as 
Worcester,  Spring,  Evarts,  and  the  Professors  at  Andover. 
The  Seminary  brought  the  young  men  where  they  could  com- 
bine their  action ;  and  these  fathers  —  for  such  they  now 
seem,  though  most  of  them,  were  then  in  the  very  prime  of 
life  —  responded  at  once  and  cordially  to  their  appeals.  Hence 
the  institution  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
-  Foreign  Missions  at  Bradford,  by  the  General  Association  of 
Massachusetts,  on  the  "29th  of  June,  1810.  These  young  men 
and  their  memorial  were  the  occasion  that  gave  rise  to  the 
Board,  but  the  idea  and  plan  of  it  arose  in  other  minds.  The 
idea  would  seem  to  have  first  occurred  to  Dr.  Worcester,  on 
Wednesday  morning,  June  27,  as  he  and  Dr.  Spring  rode 
together  in  a  chaise  from  Andover  to  Bradford  ;  and  the  plan 
of  it  was  discussed  between  them  as  they  rode  along.  But 
the  whole  was  of  God,  and  to  him  be  the  glory. 

The  Rev.  Kiah  Bayley,  writing  to  the  Secretaries  of  the 
Board  from  Vermont  in  the  year  1854,  being  then  eighty-five 
years  old,  communicated  the  following  incidents,  which  are 
worthy  of  preservation.  He  says,  "  A  short  time  before  my 
ordination  at  Newcastle,  Maine,  in  .1791,  the  Rev.  Alexander 
McLean,  of  Bristol,  had  received  from  his  friends  in  Scotland 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   BOARD.  45 

the  sermons  delivered  in  London  by  Dr.  Haweis_and  others  at 
the  formation  of  the  London  Missionary  Society.  He  was 
charmed  with  them,  and  lent  them  to  me.  I  took  the  pamphlet 
to  my  wife,  who  was  then  at  Newburyport,  and  she  lent  it  to 
her  friends,  who  read  it  with  great  avidity.  A  subscription 
paper  was  immediately  issued,  and  a  printer  engaged.  The 
work  was  soon  in  circulation.  Dr.  Samuel  Spring  and  others 
in  Newburyport  caught  the  sacred  flame.  I  know  not  that 
there  was  any  other  reprint  of  those  sermons  in  America. 
Thus  I  have  pointed  out  one  little  rill  from  which  your  Soci- 
ety rose.  There  were  others,  no  doubt,  but  I  believe  this  was 
the  leader.  The  sermons  preached  in  London  were  sent  to 
Scotland,  and  from  Scotland  to  Maine,  and  from  Maine  to 
Newburyport.  There  the  seed  germinated,  and  the  fruit  will 
yet  shake  like  Lebanon." 

Messrs.  Hall,  Judson,  Newell,  and  Nt>tt  completed  their 
theological  course  in  September,  1810,  but  were  not  able  to 
proceed  on  their  mission  until  1812.  Meanwhile,  as  is  well 
known,  Mr.  Judson  visited  Engla.nd_to_see  if  the  London  Mis- 
sionary  Society  would  arrange  with  the  Board  for  a  joint  sup- 
port of  the  mission  ;  an  embassy  which  happily  failed  of  suc- 
cess. The  London  Directors  rightly  judged  that  two  control- 
ling powers,  so  widely  separated,  could  not  act  with  unity  and 
decision.  They  also  expressed  the  hope  that  as  soon  as  the 
American  churches  became  properly  informed,  they  would 
furnish  the  means  of  sustaining  "  not  only  four,  but  forty 
missionaries."  Those  were  times  of  non-intercourse,  embargo, 
and  commercial  embarrassments  in  this  country,  and  the  ter- 
rible Napoleon  conflicts  shook  the  civilized  world.  As  a 
passage  to  India  seemed  not  likely  to  occur  soon,  Messrs.  Hall 
and  Newell  went  to  Philadelphia,  in  the  autumn  of  1811,  to 
pursue  medical  studies.  Mr.  Nott  has  shown  us  two  letters 
from  Mr.  Hall,  setting  forth  the  feelings  of  himself  and  asso- 
ciates in  view  of  their  contemplated  foreign  mission.  The 
first  was  written  on  the  9th  of  January,  1812. 

"  All  hands  upon  deck !  The  Lord  seems  to  be  opening 
the  door  for  us  to  enter  speedily  upon  the  mission.  This  even- 


46  THE   BOARD. 

ing  I  providentially  fell  in  with  Captain  Gumming,  of  the  ship 
Amiable,  of  this  city,  who  told  me  that  his  vessel  would  be  the 
first  to  sail  for  India,  and  that  by  the  middle  of  April  at  fur- 
thest. ...  It  is  currently  reported  that  a  messenger  has  arrived 
in  this  country  from  England,  with  a  proposal  to  rescind  the 
Orders  in  Council  on  a  certain  easy  condition,  to  which  it  is 
said  to  be  ascertained  that  our  government  will  readily  assent. 
But  if  this  good  news  should  not  prove  to  be  true,  it  is  almost 
universally  believed  that,  at  any  rate,  the  offending  order  will 
expire  as  soon  as  February,  and  the  intelligent  merchants  here 
confidently  believe  that  our  commerce  will  be  revived  early  in 
the  spring.  This  is  Mr.  Ralston's  opinion ;  he  thinks  we 
should  get  away  in  the  spring.  The  prospect  is  such  that  no 
time  should  be  lost.  What  will  oiir  Commissioners  do  ?  We 
shall  immediately  communicate  this  to  Mr.  Worcester  and 
brother  Judson.  Let  us  bless  the  Lord  and  rejoice,  but  with 
trembling." 

On  the  13th  of  January  he  wrote  thus :  "  I  have  seen  Mr.  Ral- 
ston to-day.  The  good  man's  hopes  in  our  favor  are  strength- 
ened. He  has  some  fears.  He  will  see  the  owner  of  the  ship 
Amiable.  Under  present  circumstances,  we  can  not  tell  when 
we  shall  return  to  New  England.  If  possible,  I  shall  remain  here 
until  the  lectures  are  closed,  which  will  be  the  last  of  Febru- 
ary. We  must  continue  here  till  we  learn  more  about  a  voy- 
age to  India.  We  should  not  be  surprised  to  find  that  the 
Commissioners  were  not  able  to  support  us,  and  ourselves  cast 
on  the  London  Society.  We  have  too  long  been  in  suspense." 

Their  suspense  was  relieved  sooner  than  they  expected.  The 
Harmony,  Captain  Brown,  proposed  sailing  on  short  notice, 
from  Philadelphia  to  Calcutta,  and  could  take  the  missionaries 
as  passengers.  The  narration  will  be  continued  from  the  state- 
ment of  the  Prudential  Committee  to  the  Board  at  its  next 
annual  meeting  in  September. 

"  In  the  latter  part  of  January  the  resolution  was  taken. 
The  ordination  of  the  missionaries  was  appointed  to  be  on  the 
Thursday  of  the  next  week  —  the  latest  day  which  would  leave 
time  for  thorn  to  get  on  to  Philadelphia  in  season.  Notice  was 


ORIGIN   OP   THE  BOARD.  47 

immediately  given  to  the  friends  of  the  mission  in  the  vicinity, 
and  means  were  put  in  operation  with  all  possible  activity,  and 
to  as  great  an  extent  as  the  limited  time  would  allow,  for  rais- 
ing the  requisite  funds. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  Mr.  Luther  Rice,  a  licentiate  preacher 
from  the  Theological  Institution  at  Andover,  whose  heart  had 
long  been  engaged  in  the  missionary  cause,  but  who  had  been 
restrained  from  offering  himself  to  the  Board  by  particular 
circumstances,  presented  himself  to  the  Committee  with  good 
recommendations,  and  with  an  earnest  desire  to  join  the  mis- 
sion. The  case  was  a  very  trying  one.  The  Committee  were 
not  invested  with  full  powers  to  admit  missionaries,  and  they 
still  felt  a  very  heavy  embarrassment  from  the  want  of  funds. 
In  view  of  all  the  circumstances,  however,  they  did  not  dare 
to  reject  Mr.  Rice,  and  they  came  to  the  conclusion  to  assume 
the  responsibility,  and  admit  him  as  a  missionary,  to  be  or- 
dained with  the  four  other  brethren,  and  sent  out  with  them. 

"  While  the  preparations  were  making,  it  came  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  Committee,  that  the  brigantine  Caravan, 
of  Salem,  was  to  sail  for  Calcutta  in  a  few  days,  and  could 
carry  out  three  or  four  passengers  ;  and  after  attention  to  the 
subject,  it  was  deemed  advisable  that  two  of  the  missionaries, 
with  their  wives,  should  take  passage  in  that  vessel.  This 
lessened  the  general  risk,  and  was  attended  with  several  ad- 
vantages. 

"  According  to  appointment,  on  the  6th  of  February,  the 
missionaries  were  ordained  at  the  Tabernacle  in  Salem.  A 
season  of  more  impressive  solemnity  has  scarcely  been  wit- 
nessed in  our  country.  The  sight  of  five  young  men,  of 
highly  respectable  talents  and  attainments,  and  who  might 
reasonably  have  promised  themselves  very  eligible  situations 
in  our  churches,  forsaking  parents,  and  friends,  and  country, 
and  every  alluring  earthly  prospect,  and  devoting  themselves 
to  the  privations,  hardships,  and  perils  of  a  mission  for  life,  to 
a  people  sitting  in  darkness  and  in  the  region  and  shadow  of 
death,  in  a  far-distant  and  unpropitious  clinie,  could  not  fail 
deeply  to  affect  every  heart  not  utterly  destitute  of  feeling. 


48  THE   BOARD. 

Nor  less  affecting  were  the  views  which  the  whole  scene  was 
calculated  to  impress  of  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  pagan 
world,  of  the  riches  of  divine  grace  displayed  in  the  gospel, 
and  of  the  obligations  on  all  on  whom  this  grace  is  conferred, 
to  use  their  utmost  endeavors  in  making  the  gospel  universally 
known.  God  was  manifestly  present ;  a  crowded  and  atten- 
tive assembly  testified,  with  many  tears,  the  deep  interest 
which  they  felt  in  the  occasion  ;  and  not  a  few  remember  the 
scene  with  fervent  gratitude,  and  can  say,  it  was  good  to  be 
there." 

The  Report  from  which  this  is  quoted  was  written  in  Sep- 
tember. It  will  illustrate  the  advance  made  by  the  Prudential 
Committee  in  faith  and  courage  since  the  27th  of  the  preced- 
ing January,  if  we  copy  from  their  Records  the  results  of  their 
deliberations  at  that  time.  "  The  Prudential  Committee  met 
at  Newburyport,  for  the  purpose,  especially,  of  considering  the 
expediency  of  embracing,  or  attempting  to  embrace,  an  oppor- 
tunity presented  for  conveying  the  missionary  brethren  to 
India  by  the  Harmony,  Captain  Brown,  of  Philadelphia.  After 
a  solemn  consideration  of  the  very  interesting  question,  they 
came  to  the  following  Resolves :  — 

"  1.  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Committee,  the  present  state 
of  the  funds  of  the  Board  does  not  warrant  the  Committee  to 
incur  the  expense  of  sending  out  the  four  missionary  breth- 
ren, with  their  wives,  with  what  is  estimated  to  be  an  adequate 
sum  in  advance  for  their  support.  Therefore,  — 

"  2.  That,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Committee,  under  existing 
circumstances,  it  is  advisable  for  the  missionaries  to  go,  if  con- 
sistently they  can,  without  their  wives,  and  wait  the  openings 
of  Providence  for  their  wives  to  join  them  in  the  missionary 
field.  But,— 

"  3.  Should  it  be  found  that  going  without  their  wives  would 
be  incompatible  with  indispensable  engagements  or  arrange- 
ments, the  Committee  will,  by  the  leave  of  Providence,  fit  out 
the  four  brethren  with  their  wives,  and  make  an  advance  to 
them  for  their  support  of  what  is  estimated  to  be  an  adequate 
sum  for  two,  under  the  idea  that,  should  means  for  supporting 


ORIGIN  OP  THE  BOAED.  49 

them  all  not  be  supplied  here,  a  part  of  them  may  be  resigned, 
in  the  last  resort,  to  the  London  Missionary  Society." 

But  what  a  loss  of  precious  influence,  had  those  wives  not 
gone !  Little  was  it  thought  by  any  one  who  saw  Ann  H. 
Judson  and  Harriet  Newell  accompanying  their  husbands  on 
board  the  Caravan,  at  Salem,  how  soon  those  devoted  females 
would  both  be  embalmed  in  the  memories  of  the  church,  and 
have  an  imperishable  record  in  its  history. 

Referring  to  this*  meeting  of  the  Committee,  Dr.  Worcester 
says,  in  one  of  the  last  letters  he  wrote,  "  When,  after  serious 
and  anxious  deliberation,  the  views  of  the  Prudential  Commit- 
tee were  first  expressed  on  the  question  of  sending  the  missiona- 
ries out,  only  one  member  was  found  decidedly  in  the  affirma- 
tive." He  does  not  name  that  member,  but  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  it  was  himself.  He  adds,  "  The  question  was  sol- 
emnly and  prayerfully  reconsidered.  The  indications  of  Prov- 
idence, in  the  series  of  facts  and  circumstances  which  had 
brought  the  matter  to  that  crisis,  were  reviewed.  It  seemed 
to  be  clearly  the  will  of  God  that  the  missionaries  should  be 
sent ;  and  the  resolution  was  taken  for  the  purpose,  in  the  con- 
fidence that,  by  proper  means,  with  his  aid,  the  requisite  funds 
could  be  obtained.  That  confidence  was  amply  justified  by 
the  event.  A  lesson  of  immense  importance  was  indelibly 
impressed  upon  the  minds  of  the  Prudential  Committee ;  and 
on  the  principle  then  adopted,  of  following  as  Providence  leads, 
trusting  in  the  same  sovereign  Providence,  with  assiduous 
attention  to  the  proper  means  for  the  needed  supplies,  have 
the  operations  of  the  Board  ever  since  been  conducted.  From 
this  principle  may  neither  the  Board  nor  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee ever  depart.  It  is,  I  am  persuaded,  the  vital  principle 
»f  the  missionary  cause." 
7 


CHAPTER    II. 

REMINISCENCES. 

Reference  to  Missionary  Histories.  —  Recollections  at  the  Jubilee  Meeting.  —  Rev.  John 
Keep's  Recollections.  —  Recollections  of  Rev.  Samuel  Nott.  —  Recollections  of  Dr. 
Porter.  —  Dr.  Worcester's  Retrospective  Address. 

FOR  more  ample  statements  concerning  the  rise  of  the  Board, 
the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Labors  of 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester,  D.  D.,  by  his  son,  Dr.  S.  M.  Worces- 
ter ;  and  also  to  the  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Labors  of  Rev. 
Adoniram  Judson,  D.  D.,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Wayland.  In 
both  these  works,  the  able  authors  have  stated  the  case  with 
great  fullness  and  accuracy.* 

It  will  be  proper,  however,  that  we  here  give  place  for  some 
of  the  recollections  which  were  called  forth  by  the  Jubilee 
Meeting.  There  were  then  living  only  two  of  the  members 
of  the  General  Association  which  met  at  Bradford  in  1810 ; 
namely,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Snell,  D.  D.,  of  Brookfield,  Mass., 
and  the  Rev.  John  Keep,  now  residing  in  Oberlin,  Ohio.  The 
infirmities  of  age  kept  the  former  from  this  meeting ;  but  the 
latter  was  present,  and  the  vast  assembly  were  pleased  to  see 
how  much  of  youthful  vigor  he  still  retained.  The  following 
statement  by  Mr.  Keep,  (from  which  a  few  passages  have  been 
necessarily  omitted,)  read  in  a  firm  voice  audible  over  the 
whole  house,  added  not  a  little  to  the  interest  of  the  occasion. 

*  See,  also,  an  article  by  Dr.  S.  M.  Worcester,  in  the  American  Theological 
Review  for  November,  1860,  on  the  Origin  of  American  Foreign  Missions ;  and 
a  Discourse  by  the  same  author  at  the  Semi-centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Insti- 
tution of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  at  Brad- 
ford, Mass.,  June  29,  1860. 

(50) 


REMINISCENCES.  51 

RECOLLECTIONS  OP  THE  REV.  JOHN  KEEP. 

The  extremes  of  a  half-century,  at  any  period,  furnish  stand- 
points for  surveys  of  marvelous  interest.  The  extremes  of 
fifty  years  back  from  to-day  afford  a  contrast  probably  unsur- 
passed when  judged  by  intervening  occurrences.  Of  these  but 
one  claims  the  precedence,  as  characterizing  the  present  Jubi- 
lee, viz.,  the  rise,  progress,  and  existing  attitude  of  that 
branch  of  the  missionary  work  in  charge  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 

The  popular  record  is,  that  its  origin  was  in  the  General 
Association  of  Massachusetts,  during  its  sessions  in  Bradford, 
June,  1810.  But,  more  truthfully,  its  birth  was  at  an  earlier 
period,  and  the  Association  simply  wrapped  it  in  its  swaddling 
clothes,  and  appointed  a  nurse  to  collect  its  nutriment  from 
the  people  of  the  country.  In  this  there  was  little  to  attract 
public  attention.  The  rise  of  this  enterprise,  like  other 
marked  movements  of  divine  wisdom  deeply  freighted  with 
good  for  mankind,  was  amid  surroundings  which  lead  us  to 
exclaim,  "  Behold  the  stillness  of  God,  when  he  rises  to  bless 
the  world !  " 

Prayer  was  answered  in  the  great  revival  in  Yale  College  in 
1802.  Mothers  were  quickened  to  consecrate  their  sons  and 
daughters  to  the  cause  of  missions.  Among  them  was  the 
mother  of  Samuel  John  Mills,  who  had  followed  Hannah  in  giv- 
ing her  Samuel  to  the  Lord,  and  whose  struggling  soul  was  at 
this  point  comforted  by  the  conversion  of  her  son.  A  child  con- 
secrated by  such  a  mother  —  I  knew  her  well  —  could  not  but 
experience  the  interfusion  of  her  spirit.  The  spiritual  birth 
of  the  son,  then  in  mature  age,  rapidly  developed  the  mission- 
ary equipped  for  service.  The  union  of  kindred  spirits  in 
Williams  College,  and  in  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary, 
developed  the  bold,  noble  purpose,  on  their  part,  to  begin  the 
work  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  in  some  portion 
of  the  foreign  field. 

On  my  way  to  the  meeting  of  the  General  Association  in 
Bradford,  June,  1810,  I  met,  in  Andover,  my  college  class- 


52  THE  BOARD. 

mate,  Jeremiah  Evarts.  He  invited  me  to  be  present  at  a 
gathering  in  the  parlor  of  Professor  Stuart,  for  a  conference 
r  with  the  young  men  who  had  set  their  hearts  upon  a 
foreign  mission,  and  whose  memorial  on  the  subject  was  to  be 
offered  for  the  consideration  and  decision  of  the  Association. 
Dr.  Griffin,  Dr.  Worcester,  Rev.  Mr.  Sanborn  of  Reading, 
Rev.  F.  Reynolds  of  Wilmington,  Professor  Stuart,  and  Mr. 
Evarts,  were  all  who  had  convened  in  answer  to  the  appoint- 
ment.* Mr.  Newell  gave  the  purpose  and  the  wishes  of  the 
youthful  missionary  band.  The  conference  was  solemn,  intel- 
lectual, and  devotional.  The  conferees  were  not  united.  Mr. 
Sanborn  expressed  a  deep  sense  of  the  importance  of  the 
object,  and  a  very  affectionate  regard  for  the  motives  and 
moral  courage  of  the  young  men.  To  him,  however,  the 
project  seemed  to  savor  of  infatuation.  The  proposal  was 
premature.  We  had  work  at  home,  more  than  we  could  do. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  meet  the  expense.  This  was  the 
form  and  substance  of  all  opposing  views  in  the  Association. 
In  reply,  brother  Worcester  calmly  grouped  the  prominent 
facts  connected  with  the  case.  Mr.  Evarts  expressed  his  con- 
victions that  the  facts  justified  efficient  action  in  accordance 
with  them.  Brother  Griffin,  with  the  divine  purpose  deeply 
surging  in  his  great  soul,  and  God's  covenant  in  his  eye, 
addressed  to  brother  Sanborn  argument  bathed  in  emotion. 
Professor  Stuart  introduced  the  element  of  faith,  and  brother 
Reynolds  significantly  intimated  that  we  had  better  not  attempt 
to  stop  God.  The  conference  closed. 

At  Bradford,  the  statement  in  writing,  signed  by  Judson, 
Nott,  Mills,  and  Newell,  was  presented  and  read  before  the 
Association.  It  was  heard  with  profound  attention.  It  was  a 
sound  in  the  tops  of  the  mulberry  trees,  and  some  of  us  held 
our  breath.  « 

This  was  followed  by  a  frank  and  full  statement  of  their 
views  and  personal,  experience,  and  the  process  through  which 

*  Mr.  Keep  speaks  from  memory,  after  a  long  period.  There  is  conclusive 
evidence  that  Drs.  Spring  and  Snell  were  also  present. 


REMINISCENCES.  53 

they  reached  their  decision.  The  result  was  the  appointment 
of  a  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and  the 
advice  that  the  young  gentlemen  put  themselves  under  the 
direction  of  this  Board.  So  far  as  I  recollect,  there  was  very 
little  discussion.  Conservatism  suggested  caution.  All  were 
interested  in  the  movement ;  and  the  members  generally 
seemed  disposed  to  follow,  in  the  matter,  the  lead  of  some  few 
then  present  who  had  fully  canvassed  the  subject.  Perhaps 
never  was  the  value  of  an  intelligent  leading  influence  more 
clearly  seen ;  perhaps  never  was  such  an  influence  more 
needed  or  more  gladly  acknowledged.  One  thing  was  prom- 
inent and  universal,  viz.,  a  deep  sense  of  the  sublime  position 
and  devout  spiritual  consecration  of  this  missionary  band. 
They  were  unpretending,  modest,  of  a  tender,  child-like  spirit, 
well  understanding  their  aim,  consecrated,  a  felt  power.  The 
attitude  of  the  meeting  was  about  this  :  no  direct  opposition,  a 
weak  faith,  a  genial  hope,  rather  leaning  to  a  waiting  posture. 
It  obviously  was  a  relief  to  a  portion  of  the  body,  that  the 
subject  was  put  into  the  hands  of  such  men  as  those  who  com- 
posed the  Board.  In  the  right  sense  they  were  marked  men, 
well  suited  to  the  emergency.  This  seemed  to  lift  somewhat 
the  pressure  of  the  responsibility.  The  feeling  was,  Try  it ; 
if  the  project  fail,  it  would  have,  from  such  men,  an  honorable 
burial.  The  kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with  observation. 
Every  feature  in  the  opening  of  this  great  missionary  move- 
ment calls  us  to  contemplate  the  stillness  of  God.  No  torch- 
light processions,  no  flourish  of  trumpets.  The  kingdom 
of  God  is  not  in  word,  but  in  power,  —  the  gentle  footfall, 
the  silent  tread  of  divine  love  and  truth  to  revolutionize 
mankind. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  divine  power,  quickening  the 
hearts  of  the  praying  people  at  that  period,  took  its  form,  as 
bearing  on  foreign  missions,  in  connection  with  the  religious 
•exercises  and  mutual  consultations  of  the  young  men  who 
applied  to  the  Association.  And  verily  they  were  men  —  tall 
men  —  in  the  best  sense.  The  moral  power  of  their  position 
before  the  Association  was  intensified  by  the  fact,  known 


54  THE  BOARD. 

among  the  members,  that  Harriet  Atwood,  afterward  the  wife 
of  Newell,  and  Aim  Hasseltine,  afterward  the  wife  of  Judson, 
young  ladies  of  prominent  mental  culture,  were  bathed  in  the 
same  spirit  of  consecration  to  the  missionary  work,  and  with 
hearts  aglow  with  the  intelligent  purpose  to  enter  the  field 
when  and  where  God  might  call  them  ;  divine  Providence 
thus  early  indicating  that  the  contemplated  mission  should 
open  before  the  heathen  with  the  genial  influence  of  the 
Christian  family.  But  the  start  of  this  mission  lies  further 
back,  and  has  its  origin  in  the  spirit  of  prayer  among  the 
people  at  the  opening  of  the  present  century.  And  here  let 
there  be  no  strife  about  names ;  only  keep  in  mind  that  Han- 
nah, Dorcas,  and  grandmother  Lois  are  a  power  nearer  the 
throne  than  corporate  bodies  and  boards  of  managers.  .  .  . 
The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  gave  his  life  a  ransom  for  the  people, 
and  the  people  heard  him  gladly.  The  people  compose  his 
church  on  earth,  and  to  this  very  people,  his  church,  he  gave 
the  commission  to  preach  the  gospel  to  all  mankind.  It  was 
a  significant  question  at  Bradford,  Will  the  churches  sustain 
the  movement  ?  Happy  was  it  that  leading  men  there  had 
well  pondered  this  question.  Griffin  held  his  hand  upon  the 
pulse.  You  could  read  the  answer  in  his  eye  —  "Ay,  the 
Church  is  ready ! "  We  breathed  easier.  The  work  was  begun. 
Two  prominent  points  claim  the  marked  regard  of  this 
Jubilee  Meeting :  — 

1.  This  Society  sprang  from  thepeople — a  fact  which  should, 
and  which  does,  occupy  my  vision  at  the  stand-point  of  1810, 
where  I  now  am. 

2.  Its  safety  in  the  future  lies  in  faithfully  expressing  and 
carrying  out  the  sentiments  of  the  people. 

It  is  for  the  people,  as  such,  that  this  world  was  made.  All 
its  constituent  parts  and  elements  belong  to  mankind,  to  be 
owned,  enjoyed,  used,  and  directed  with  reference  to  the  best 
good  of  the  people. 

I  stand  to-day,  and  here,  as  I  never  stood  before.  I  am 
alone.  My  present  stand-point  is  1810.  The  foreign  mis- 
sionary enterprise  an  infant  —  but  a  smiling  babe  —  prayer- 


EEMINISCENCES.  55 

fc 

fully  committed  to  the  guardianship  of  D  wight,  Treadwell, 
Lyman,  Huntington,  and  others.  Look  at  this  new  comer,  a 
child  not  even  ready  for  baptism.  I  look  across  the  track  of  a 
half-century,  and,  in  the  name  of  its  primitive  guardians,  I 
hail  its  now  colossal  stature  at  the  stand-point  of  1860  ;  and 
to  the  present  guardians  of  this  movement  I  put  the  question, 
"What  shall  be  its  future  ?  What  shall  be  its  future  ?  You 
reply,  The  cross  of  Christ  is  our  strength.  Who  but  the  people 
support  the  cross?  Among  the  people  are  found  the  sons  and 
daughters  consecrated  to  missions.  Duty  done  gilds  the  future. 
A  present,  living  Christ  in  the  soul  is  the  inherent  power. 
May  a  correct,  comprehensive  view,  at  the  stand-point  of  1860, 
infuse  unction  and  healthful  stimulants,  as  the  coming  half- 
century  moves  on,  that  you  may  reach  your  next  Jubilee,  1910, 
in  the  fullness  of  the  stature  of  perfect  ones  in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Nott,  now  residing  in  Wareham,  Mass.,  is 
the  only  survivor  of  the  four  memorialists  to  the  General  As- 
sociation, and  of  the  first  company  of  missionaries.  At  the 
request  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  he  prepared  the  follow- 
ing letter,  brought  it  with  him  to  the  meeting  at  which  the 
Historical  Discourse  was  delivered,  and,  not  being  in  sufficient 
health  for  further  attendance,  sent  it  to  the  senior  Secretary, 
to  whom  it  was  addressed :  — 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  THE  REV.  SAMUEL  NOTT. 

REV.  AND' DEAR  SIR:  I  proceed,  according  to  your  request, 
to  record  such  memoranda  of  my  connection  with  the  Board 
as  my  time  and  strength  shall  permit. 

1.  The  most  obvious  reminiscence  is  that  forced  upon  me, 
impromptu,  at  my  meeting  with  Judson  in  1845,  and  repeated 
in  my  letter  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  McCullom,  at  Bradford,  last  June, 
as  having  been  for  fifty  years  prominent  in  my  thoughts :  "  All 
flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the  goodliness  thereof  as  the  flower 
of  the  field.  The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,  but  the 
word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever."  "  You  can  expect  but 
little,"  said  Dr.  Lyman  to  me  on  his  way  to  the  second  meet- 


56  THE  BOARD. 

ing  of  the  Board,  "  from  an  old  man  of  more  than  three- 
score." It  was  just  as  true  that  little  could  be  expected  from 
the  youthful  agents ;  for  youth  and  age  were  soon  to  vanish 
away  as  the  grass,  and  the  only  just  hope  could  be  in  the  vital 
powers  and  divine  aids  which  insure  success  to  the  word  of 
God.  "While  they  perish,  it  lives  and  grows,  indestructible  and 
progressive. 

My  whole  recollection  of  my  youthful  companions  is,  of 
their  honest  and  earnest  intention  to  publish  the  ivord  of  God 
—  to  obey  the  command,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature."  Their  chief  momentum  seemed 
to  me  to  be  a  duty  to  be  done,  and  not  at  all  a  spirit  of 
romance  and  adventure,  or  the  vain  conceit  that  they  were 
more  devoted  than  others  who  did  not  adopt  the  duty  which 
was  so  plainly  their  own.  Their  perseverance  through  great 
trials  to  their  death  justifies  this  life-long  remembrance.  I 
may  bear  a  like  testimony  to  the  fathers  who  adopted  their 
cause.  It  may  have  been  with  slow  steps,  but  they  entered 
fully  and  heartily  into  the  views  and  purposes  of  the  young 
men,  and,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  with  the  same  simple  intention 
to  publish  the  word  of  God,  and  with  the  same  sense  of  a  duty 
to  be  done*  In  both  cases,  it  was  not  a  mere  missionary 
spirit,  but  rather  an  essential  piety  taking  the  direction  of 
missions ;  not  a  special  earnestness  belonging  to  a  special  work, 
but  Christian  devotedness  accepting  a  specific  duty,  as  it 
accepts  all  known  duties.  No  disparaging  expressions  can  be 
just  in  regard  to  the  state  of  religion  previous  to  the  formation 
of  the  Board.  For,  if  there  had  not  been  a  substantial  Chris- 
tianity ready  to  undertake  any  Christian  duty,  the  appeal  of 
the  young  men  would  not  have  been  welcomed  by  the  public, 
and  followed  by  earnest  and  successful  labors  at  home  and 


*  The  expression  of  the  great  moving  principle  —  the  sense  of  duty  —  which 
began  the  Foreign  Missions,  was  providentially  given  to  me  in  the  first  mission- 
ary sermon  preached  before  the  Board,  at  Worcester,  in  1811.  No  arrange- 
ments had  been  made  for  a  public  service,  and,  on  motion  of  Dr.  Lyman,  I 
was  appointed  to  preach,  because  I  had  just  delivered,  at  Union  College  Com- 
mencement, an  oration  illustrating  the  duty  from  our  Lord's  command. 


REMINISCENCES.  57 

abroad.  The  expression  of  Christian  devotedness  actually  ex- 
isting, was  given  by  Dr.  Woods,  at  the  ordination  at  Salem, 
February  6, 1812,  in  adopting  for  his  guide  Psalm  Ixvii. :  "  God 
be  merciful  unto  us,  and  bless  us,  and  cause  his  face  to  shine 
upon  us  ;  that  thy  way  may  be  known  upon  earth,  thy  saving 
health  among  all  nations."  The  incidents  and  circumstances 
of  the  early  stages  of  the  work  are  superseded  by  the  facts 
obvious  to  all,  that  the  direct  agents  of  fifty  years  ago,  with  a 
single  exception,  have  passed  away,  and  are  of  as  little  account 
as  the  dust  of  their  graves ;  and  yet,  that  the  word  which  they 
attempted  to  publish 'has  had  living  and  glorious  results.  All 
the  weakness  and  insufficiency  are  man's ;  all  the  strength  and 
sufficiency  belong  to  God  and  his  word ;  and  to  God  and  his 
word  all  the  successes  of  fifty  years  are  to  be  humbly  and  de- 
voutly ascribed. 

My  recollections  of  the  course  of  events  from  June,  1810, 
when  the  Board  was  instituted,  to  October,  1815,  when  I 
left  Bombay,  may  be  summed  up  in  Isaiah  xl.  4,  introdu- 
cing the  contrast  of  dying  men  and  the  ever-living  word, 
varying  it  from  the  prophetic  future  to  the  historic  past : 
"  Every  valley  was  exalted,  and  every  mountain  and  hill  made 
low ;  the  crooked  was  made  straight,  and  the  rough  places 
plain."  I  can  not  expect  others  to  receive  the  impression  made 
upon  my  own  mind  by  difficulties  which  seemed  impossibilities 
to  all  human  skill  and  strength,  forcing  the  mind  to  look  to 
HIM  who  calleth  those  things  which  be  not  as  though  they 
were,  and  by  deliverances  which  seemed  only  the  work  of  Him 
"  who  is  wonderful  in  counsel  and  excellent  in  working."  The 
whole  history  of  the  five  years  of  my  connection  with  the 
Board  made  upon  my  own  mind  the  deepest  impression  of  the 
weakness  and  insufficiency  of  all  human  agencies,  and  of  the 
divine  aids  and  vital  powers  on  which  the  progress  of  the  word 
of  God  is  acknowledged  to  depend. 

From  the  first  appointment  of  the  Board,  at  Bradford,  June 

29, 1810,  to  the  embarkation  of  the  missionaries  in  February, 

1812,  there  was  every  thing  to  discourage  in  the  financial, 

commercial,  and  political  condition  of  the  country.     The  em- 

8 


58  THE  BOARD. 

bargo  had  been  succeeded  by  non-intercourse ;  and  the  war, 
which  soon  actually  took  place,  was  in  the  highest  degree  prob- 
able. Under  these  circumstances,  the  institution  of  the  Board, 
and  its  special  organization,  equally  adapted  to  the  small  work 
in  hand,  and  the  larger  work  which  events  have  shown  they 
were  to  do ;  their  readiness  and  promptitude  in  sending  the 
mission  to  England,1  and  thus  preparing  for  the  unforeseen  work 
of  February,  1812 ;  their  decisive  action  on  the  arrival  of  the 
brethren  Hall  and  Newell  from  Philadelphia,  and  fixing  on 
February  6th  as  the  day  for  ordination,  with  insufficient  funds 
in  prospect,  —  are  not  only  evidences  of  their  sincere  desire  to 
do  their  duty,  but  of  the  favor  of  Providence,  making  them 
equal  to  emergencies  which  only  subsequent  events  have  shown 
in  all  their  importance. 

A  similar  acknowledgment  may  be  made  in  regard  to  the 
movements  of  the  young  men  themselves.  It  was  rather  a 
guiding  and  overruling  hand,  than  the  foresight  of  an  unde- 
veloped course  of  events,  which  induced  the  brethren  Hall  and 
Newell  to  make  their  movement  at  the  close  of  January,  1812, 
when  there  was  no  human  prospect  of  funds  or  favor,  and 
brought  together  in  season  the  scattered  missionaries  within 
the  brief  time  allowed.  The  same  hand  is  to  be  acknowledged 
in  the  bequest  of  Mrs.  Norris,*  giving  to  the  Board  good  hopes 
for  the  future,  but  requiring  energetic  movements  for  the  pres- 
ent exigency  ;  and  in  the  providential  arrangement,  which  sent 
forth  the  first  mission  from  two  places,  the  proper  centers  of 
the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  churches,  and  united 
these  churches  in  contributions  sufficient  for  the  actual  neces- 
sities. The  sailing  of  the  Caravan  from  Salem,  and  of  the 
Harmony  from  Philadelphia,  almost  exactly  at  the  same  time, 
and  pledging  both  churches  to  the  work,  was  an  event  not  to 
have  been  expected ;  and  its  vast  importance  appears  only  in 
the  light  of  subsequent  events.  How  unpromising  was  the 
prospect,  may  be  made  more  fully  manifest  by  mentioning  the 
fact,  that  Dr.  Dwight,  who  was  himself  a  member  of  the  Board, 

»  Of  forty  thousand  dollars. 


REMINISCENCES.  59 

did  not  forbear  to  express  himself  in  decided  disapprobation 
of  the  action  of  the  Prudential  Committee  in  sending  forth  the 
mission  under  the  actual  circumstances  of  the  case.  This  he 
did  to  me  personally  on  the  fourth  day  after  the  ordination  at 
Salem;  and  yet,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  the  rash 
undertaking  is*  seen  to  have  been  wise  and  most  important. 

The  course  of  events  after  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries  in 
India  was  for  a  long  time  unpropitious.  On  the  arrival  of  the 
Harmony,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Newell  were  already  gone  to  the  Isle 
of  France,  and  Mr.  Judson  was  under  an  engagement  to  fol- 
low. Moreover  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  had  already  changed 
their  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  baptism,  and  Mr.  Rice,  not 
long  after,  changed  his.  With  every  conviction  of  their  ear- 
nest sincerity,  their  change  was  deeply  regretted  as  a  hinder- 
ance  to  our  united  purpose ;  but  it  must  now  be  acknowledged 
to  have  engaged  a  great  denomination  in  the  work  of  foreign 
missions,  and  to  have  blessed  India  beyond  the  Ganges  with 
blessings  above  all  price. 

As  to  ourselves,  remaining  in  connection  with  the  Board,  it 
is  sufficient  to  say,  that  when  all  hope  of  escape  from  being 
sent  to  England  had  vanished,  after  we  were  forced  to  see  and 
feel  that  God  only  could  deliver  us,  we  were  delivered,  as  it 
seemed  to  us,  by  the  hand  of  the  Almighty.  Our  names  had 
been  already  published  in  the  Calcutta  papers  as  passengers  on 
the  fleet,  which  we  saw  under  sail  for  England  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Hoogly,  twelve  miles  in  advance  of  the  ship  on  which  we  had 
embarked  for  Bombay.  On  our  arrival  at  Bombay,  in  February, 
one  year  after  our  ordination,  we  were  met  by  an  order  from  the 
general  government  that  we  should  be  sent  to  England  from 
there  —  an  order  which,  after  friendly  delays  on  the  part  of  the 
governor  of  that  Presidency,  was  upon  the  point  of  being  exe- 
cuted, when  Providence  favored  our  escape  with  the  intention 
of  joining  brother  Newell  in  Ceylon,  and  giving  up  the  attempt 
at  Bombay.  The  same  good  Providence  prevented  the  carry- 
ing out  of  this  purpose,  as  it  appeared  afterward,  that  it  might 
accomplish  our  original  design.  Arrested  at  Cochin,  brought 
back  to  Bombay,  detained  under  surveillance  for  several  weeks 


60  THE  BOARD. 

in  order  to  be  sent  by  the  next  ship,  we  were  delivered  again, 
after  all  hope  had  passed,  after  all  arrangements  had  been  com- 
pleted, and  even  after  our  baggage  had  been  made  ready  for 
the  ship,  and  the  coolies  were  assembled  to  carry  it  to  the  boat. 
This  deliverance,  it  appeared  afterward,  was  due,  under  God, 
to  the  appeal  to  the  governor  of  Bombay,  prepared  in  the  last 
extremity  by  Mr.  Hall,  and,  as  it  seemed  to  me  at  the  time, 
divinely  fitted  for  the  occasion.  This,  and  all  the  communi- 
cations of  the  missionaries  with  the  governor  of  Bombay,  were 
sent  to  the  Court  of  Directors  by  the  ship  which  was  to  have 
carried  ourselves ;  and  the  result  was  permission  from  the 
highest  authority  for  the  missionaries  to  remain;  but  again 
not  without  the  utmost  hazard,  and  the  most  marked  deliver- 
ance from  utter  defeat.  This  last  deliverance  I  learned  only 
after  my  connection  with  the  mission  ceased.  The  Court  of 
Directors,  on  reviewing  the  papers  of  the  missionaries,  were 
on  the  point  of  refusing  permission  for  them  to  remain,  requir- 
ing their  removal,  and  censuring  all  their  servants  who  had 
aided  them,  when  Mr.  Charles  Grant  made  an  elaborate  argu- 
ment from  the  documents  of  the  missionaries,  which  turned 
the  vote  in  their  favor.  I  regret  to  learn  that  this  important 
paper,  which  Mr.  Grant  permitted  me  to  copy  for  the  Board, 
has  been  lost. 

In  recalling  these  scenes,  I  have  reviewed  several  letters 
from  our  friends  in  India,  and  from  Mr.  Newell  himself,  writ- 
ten at  the  different  stages  of  apparent  defeat,  on  the  presump- 
tion that  the  mission  had  been  already  defeated. 

Among  the  providential  and  gracious  aids  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  first  foreign  mission  may  be  named  the  Christian 
death  of  Mrs.  Newell,  of  which  we  had  in  Bombay  full  ac- 
counts from  Mr.  Newell.  I  remember  its  influence  upon  our 
minds  in  strengthening  our  missionary  purpose,  while  the 
influence  of  the  fuller  narrative,  and  its  wide-spread  publica- 
tion, is  manifest  to  all.  There  may  also  be  noticed  the  perfect 
unanimity  of  the  two  missionaries  in  every  plan  and  move- 
ment ;  their  unhesitating  decision  at  every  new  and  unexpect- 
ed point  of  difficulty ;  their  unshaken  adherence  to  their  united 


REMINISCENCES.  61 

decisions,  in  the  midst  of  objections  to  their  course,  and  the 
counter  advice  of  their  best  friends ;  their  perseverance  to 
extremity  again  and  again,  in  the  expectation  of  defeat  and 
then,  of  censure  for  their  rashness ;  and  finally,  their  persist- 
ency in  learning  a  language  which  they  had  no  prospect  of 
using,  while  yet  they  were  intensely  occupied  in  the  most  diffi- 
cult affairs  —  all,  to  be  ascribed  to  that  wonder-working  Provi- 
dence, and  I  would  hope  to  those  gracious  aids,  which  make 
the  undertakings  of  frail  and  short-sighted  men  available  far 
beyond  their  own  foresight,  expectation,  or  purpose.  I  may 
properly  repeat,  that  the  whole  course  of  events,  including  all 
the  decisions  and  movements  of  the  leading  agents  at  home 
and  abroad,  made  upon  my  own  mind  the  deepest  impression 
of  the  weakness  and  insufficiency  of  all  human  agencies,  and 
of  the  importance  of  the  vital  powers  and  divine  aids  on 
which  the  word  of  God  entirely  depends. 

It  was  under  these  impressions  of  divine  favor,  making  that 
to  succeed  which  seemed  as  impossible  as  it  was  improbable, 
that  my  connection  with  the  mission  ceased,  not  in  desponden- 
cy as  to  the  future  —  but,  it  may  be,  with  too  sanguine  hopes  of 
rapid  progress  to  the  word  of  God  at  home  and  abroad.  What- 
ever disappointment  has  come,  is  partly  in  myself;  and  I  can 
only  pray  that  I  and  all  may  more  entirely  adopt  the  prayer 
given  by  Dr.  Woods  at  the  ordination  at  Salem,  February  6, 
1812,  as  the  expression  of  the  spirit  which  must  continue,  as 
well  as  begin,  the  missionary  work:  "God  be  merciful  unto 
us,  and  bless  us,  and  cause  his  face  to  shine  upon  us ;  that  thy 
way  may  be  known  upon  earth,  thy  saving  health  among  all 
nations." 

With  great  respect,  your  friend  and  servant, 

SAMUEL  NOTT. 

Another  testimony,  which  should  have  a  place  here,  is  that 
of  Rev.  Noah  Porter,  D.  D.,  at  whose  house,  in  the  year  1811, 
the  Board  held  its  first  meeting,  and  where,  in  fact,  it  received 
its  organization.  The  letter  is  dated  Farmington,  Conn.,  No- 
vember 23, 1860. 


62  THE   BOARD. 

RECOLLECTIONS  OP  THE  REV.  NOAH  PORTER,  D.  D. 

DEAR  SIR  :  The  General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  at 
Bradford,  in  1810,  designated  three  of  the  gentlemen  ap- 
pointed* by  them  as  "  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions," 
"  to  consult  with  other  members  for  the  purpose  of  appointing 
the  time  and  place  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  Board."  These 
all  belonged  to  Massachusetts ;  and  it  must,  as  I  think,  have 
been  in  deference  to  the  gentlemen  appointed  on  the  Commis- 
sion in  Connecticut,  and  particularly  in  deference  to  His 
Excellency  Governor  Treadwell,  that  in  Christian  civility  they 
appointed  the  place  of  meeting  where  it  would  best  accommo- 
date them,  in  Connecticut,  and  at  Farmington,  the  residence 
of  Governor  Treadwell.  He,  as  the  first  appointed  of  the 
whole  number,  was  their  chairman  ;  and  no  doubt  was  chosen 
first  in  the  expectation  that  he  would,  be  the  first  President 
of  the  Board.  He  was  among  the  foremost  of  Christian  lay- 
men in  New  England;  had  been  extensively  known  in  the 
churches  as  a  distinguished  Christian  of  the  Edwardean  school, 
and  an  able  theological  writer,  as  well  as  an  eminent  civilian 
and  jurist ;  had  for  many  years  been  chairman  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  Connecticut,  and  of 
its  Prudential  Committee ;  and  was  at  that  time  Governor  of 
the  State  of  Connecticut.  On  receiving  notice  of  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  meeting  to  be  held  in  Farmington,  foreseeing  that 
circumstances  beyond  his  control  would  make  it  inconvenient 
for  the  meeting  to  be  held  at  his  own  house,  he  requested  that 
it  might  be  at  mine,  to  which  a  ready  consent  was  given. 
Fifty  years  ago,  I  and  my  wife  were  just  starting  in  our  course 
together,  were  in  the  second  year  after  our  marriage,  and  I 
was  in  the  fourth  of  my  pastorate.  Most  gladly  we  opened 
the  parlor  of  our  new  house  to  these  venerable  men,  and  wel- 
comed them  to  such  hospitalities  as  we  were  able  to  afford. 
Strangers  to  us  indeed  they  were  not,  at  least  in  character 
and  standing,  for  their  praise  was  in  all  the  churches,  and 
some  of  them  were  our  familiar  acquaintances ;  but  it  has 
ever  since  been  to  us  a  subject  of  pleasing  reflection,  that,  in 


REMINISCENCES.  63 

a  peculiar  and  very  interesting  sense,  we  may  be  said,  in  hav- 
ing received  them,  to  have  entertained  angels  unawares. 
Here  they  sat  from  the  10th  of  September,  1810,  till  the  12th, 
in  prosecution  of  the  work  of  their  high  behest  —  Samuel 
Spring,  Jonathan  Lyman,  Samuel  Worcester,  and  Calvin 
Chapin,  inclusive  of  Governor  Treadwell,  five  of  the  nine 
chosen  at  Bradford  to  constitute  the  Board.  Why  the  other 
four  were  not  present,  I  do  not  remember  to  have  been  in- 
formed, except  that  Dr.  Dwight  sent  word  that  the  concerns 
of  the  college  demanded  his  presence,  commencement  being 
just  at  hand.  At  their  invitation,  I  was  privileged  to  sit  with 
them  and  listen  to  their  deliberations ;  to  go  with  them,  as 
they  were  feeling  their  way  along  an  untrod  path  ;  to  observe 
the  very  process  of  the  formation  of  the  American  Board,  — 
for  however  Commissioners  had  been  chosen  at  Bradford, 
their  formation  as  a  Board  was  consummated  at  Farmington ; 
to  see  the  springing  up,  at  the  fountain  head,  of  the  little  rill 
that  in  its  course  of  fifty  years  has  become  so  mighty  a  river, 
bearing  life  and  salvation  to  the  nations  ;  or  rather  to  see  this 
angel  of  God  pluming  his  wings  for  his  flight  in  the  midst  of 
heaven,  having  the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach  unto  them 
that  dwell  on  the  earth,  and  to  every  nation,  and  kindred,  and 
tongue,  and  people.  Dr.  Worcester  was  their  scribe.  Both 
the  Constitution  of  the  Board,  and  the  Address  which  they 
sent  out  to  the  Christian  public,  while  they  were  the  fruit  of 
the  anxious  deliberations  and  united  counsels  of  .all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  present,  were,  in  style  and  form,  the  prod- 
uct of  his  classic  pen. 

Their  meeting  excited  no  general  interest  among  the  people 
here  at  the  time.  There  was  no  public  religious  service  on 
the  occasion  ;  nor  do  I  remember  any  mention  of  the  meeting 
to  have  been  made  to  the  congregation  on  the  Sabbath  pre- 
ceding, or  any  notice  of  it  to  have  been  sent  to  the  ministers 
in  this  vicinity.  This  would  not  have  been  after  the  customs 
of  those  times.  Meetings  of  this  kind  were  arranged  rather 
for  the  business  to  be  done,  than  for  popular  effect.  Trustees 
and  Committees  of  Missionary,  Bible,  and  Tract  Societies  were 


64  THE   BOARD. 

accustomed  to  meet  together  in  some  private  room,  do  the 
work  assigned  them,  and  go  home,  without  even  a  knowledge 
of  their  meeting  by  people  generally  where  the  meeting  was 
held.  Some  eight  or  ten  years  after  the  formation  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners,  if  I  do  not  mistake  the 
time,  I  was  present  at  an  anniversary  meeting  of  the_Amer- 
ican  Bible  Society,  in  a  hall  of  moderate  dimensions,  in  New 
York,  where  but  little  was  said  or  done  for  popular  impression, 
and  not  more  than  two  or  three  hundred  people  were  present. 
There  was,  however,  a  deep-felt  interest  in  the  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary enterprise,  here  and  elsewhere,  at  the  time.  The 
impulse  that  had  been  given  to  Christian  feeling  in  our 
churches  by  the  missions  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
and  their  appeals  to  the  Christian  public  in  behalf  of  the  hea- 
then world,  had  not  been  lost ;  able  writers  on  the  prophecies 
in  England  and  this  country  had  brought  the  millennium  near 
in  the  apprehension  of  leading  men,  both  ministers  and  lay- 
men, in  the  churches ;  and  now  that  measures  were  instituted 
to  embody  them  in  the  work,  they  were  prepared  to  give  these 
measures  their  ready  and  hearty  support.  A  single  instance, 
which  I  well  remember,  I  may,  at  this  distance  of  time,  men- 
tion to  you,  as  a  specimen  of  what  then  began  extensively  to 
appear.  Scarcely  had  the  Board  gone  from  my  house,  when 
my  father,  then  seventy-four  years  old,  and  spending  the  even- 
ing of  life  chiefly  in  my  family,  said  to  my  wife,  "  And  how 
much  do  you  think  I  ought  to  give  to  this  object  ?"  Her 
instant  reply  was,  "  Five  hundred  dollars"  which  he  soon 
afterward  pledged  himself  to  give ;  though,  as  I  suppose,  it 
was  a  fourth  or  fifth  part  of  all  that  he  possessed.  Indeed,  it 
seems  to  me  that  there  was  an  enthusiasm  in  the  missionary 
spirit  of  that  day  which  we  but  rarely  see  now ;  though  un- 
doubtedly it  was  less  diffused,  and  I  would  fain  hope  that  it 
has  now  more  of  the  stability  and  power  of  Christian  prin- 
ciple and  habit.  In  consideration  of  these  things,  I  may 
hope  to  be  pardoned  if  my  attachment  to  the  Board  may  seem 
to  have  something  of  the  partiality  of  an  early  friendship ; 
if  I  consider  my  relation  to  it  as  a  member  one  of  the  highest 


REMINISCENCES.  65 

honors  that  I  could  have  received  ;  and  if,  though  my  infirmi- 
ties will  probably  prevent  my  attendance  on  its  future  meet- 
ings, I  desire  to  die,  as  I  have  so  long  lived,  in  connection 
with  it.  I  am,  sir,  with  great  personal  respect  and  esteem, 
yours  truly,  NOAH  PORTER. 

Probably  no  one  has  more  thoroughly  investigated  the  early 
history  of  our  foreign  missions  than  the  Rev.  Samuel  M. 
Worcester,  D.  D.,  the  biographer  of  the  Board's  first  Corre- 
sponding Secretary.  Through  his  kindness  we  are  enabled  to 
insert  portions  of  a  speech  which  he  delivered  at  the  Jubilee 
Meeting. 

RETROSPECTIVE  ADDRESS  OP  DR.  S.  M.  WORCESTER. 

There  have  been  great  mistakes  in  what  has  often  been  said 
of  the  missionary  spirit  of  those  days,  and  of  the  origin  of 
this  Board.  If  I  were  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  where 
the  waters  of  that  mighty  river  are  emptying  themselves  into 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  I  should  not  think  of  seeking  their  source 
by  ascending  to  the  Ohio,  and  thence  to  the  fountains  of  the 
Alleghany  or  the  Monongahela.  Not  any  more  should  I  refer 
the  origin  of  this  Board  to  any  one  individual,  or  to  transac- 
tions in  any  one  locality.  Our  God  has  a  wide  sweep  in  the 
circle  of  his  providence,  embracing  manifold  causes,  influences, 
means  and  instrumentalities.  In  that  providence  he  was 
pleased  to  lay  broad  and  deep  the  strong  foundations  of  this 
Board  of  Missions.  It  was  once  said  by  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher 
—  and  he  never  spoke  more  truly  —  that  the  American  Board 
originated  in  the  revivals  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century.  The  same  testimony  has 
just  been  given  us  by  the  venerable  witness,  [Mr.  Keep,] 
whom  God  has  permitted  to  survive  to  this  day,  and  whom  I 
am  most  happy  to  see  and  to  hear  on  this  occasion. 

It  is  to  me  a  delightful  thought,  that  the  Board  thus  origi- 
nated not  with  man,  but  so  evidently  with  God  only  wise  and 
only  good  ;  and  in  such  circumstances  that  every  one,  both  of 
the  missionary  candidates  and  of  the  fathers  and  brethren  who 
9 


66  THE   BOARD. 

instituted  this  Board,  should  be  constrained  most  devoutly  to 
say,  "Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  •unto  thy  name 
give  glory,  for  thy  mercy  and  for  thy  truth's  sake."  I  derive 
from  this  view  the  most  animating  encouragements  of  hope 
for  the  future.  This  Board,  be  assured,  has  foundations 
which  a^re  not  soon  to  be  moved.  Whatever  may  be  the  em- 
barrassments of  the  hour,  there  is  yet  a  great  work  to  be 
accomplished.  In  the  fifty  years  to  come  before  the  Jubilee 
of  Nineteen  hundred  and  ten,  I  can  not  doubt,  as  I  look  back 
upon  the  fifty  years  now  completed,  there  will  be  far  more 
wonderful  revelations  of  the  providence  of  God  in  this  glo- 
rious enterprise  for  the  world's  evangelization,  than  it  is  our 
high  privilege  this  day  with  profoundest  gratitude  to  acknowl- 
edge and  to  commemorate. 

We  have  not  the  slightest  reason  to  despond.  My  brother 
Lindley  and  other  missionary  brethren  need  not  be  troubled 
and  alarmed,  because  some  of  us  have  so  spoken  of  the 
importance  of  carefulness,  that  the  expenditures  of  the  Board 
shall  not  exceed  the  probable  receipts.  Let  no  one  of  them 
hang  his  harp  on  the  willows. 

When,  in  January,  1812,  the  decisive  step  was  taken  to  send 
out  the  first  missionaries,  the  first  Secretary  of  the  Board  — 
but  for  whom  that  step  would  not  then  have  been  taken,  and 
who,  as  his  honored  friend,  Dr.  Spring,  declared,  "  seemed  to 
have  all  the  faith  there  was  in  the  world  "  —  had  no  adequate 
idea  of  the  missionary  feeling  which  actually  existed,  notwith- 
standing his  very  extensive  and  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
state  of  the  churches.  The  circulars  and  appeals  which  he 
sent  out  to  different  parts  of  New  England,  that  if  possible 
the  means  might  be  furnished  for  the  new  enterprise,  met 
with  a  response,  as  I  well  know,  even  from  the  upper  counties 
of  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  which  perfectly  surprised 
and  electrified  his  great  and  noble  heart. 

Mr.  President,  I  hold  in  my  hand  the  first  subscription  book 
ever  used  by  an  agent  employed  in  soliciting  donations.  And 
here,  sir,  in  the  handwriting  of  that  Secretary,  is  the  first 
subscription  paper  circulated  among  the  female  friends  of  the 


REMINISCENCES.  67 

cause.  At  the  head  of  the  list  of  names  is  that  of  Elizabeth 
Bartlett,  with  a  donation  of  one  hundred  dollars ;  and  at  the 
end,  that  of  Judith  King,  with  forty  dollars.  There  were 
thirty  other  donors,  chiefly  of  small  sums,  and  with  no  other 
designation  than  "  A  Friend."  The  whole  amount  subscribed 
by  those  Salem  ladies  was  two  hundred  and  seventy-one  dol- 
lars and  seventy-five  cents.  Mrs.  Bartlett  was  a  warm  personal 
friend  of  the  ever-to-be-remembered  Mrs.  Mary  Norris,  who, 
during  the  year  previous,  had  deceased,  bequeathing  to  the 
Board  the  munificent  legacy  of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  Her 
will  was  contested,  aud  no  part  of  the  legacy  was  available 
until  more  than  four  years  after  her  decease. 

It  is  impossible  now  to  realize  the  formidableness  of  the  dif- 
ficulties encountered  in  the  earliest  operations  of  this  Board. 
Before  the  first  missionaries  had  found  a  resting  place  for  their 
feet  on  heathen  ground,  the  discouragements  presented  to 
friends  at  home  were  so  great  and  portentous,  as  to  demand 
an  exertion  of  the  strongest  and  most  heroic  faith  and  forti- 
tude. Let  me  read  to  you  some  passages  from  a  missionary 
sermon,  that  you  may  see  how  the  first  Corresponding  Secretary 
met  the  crisis  of  complicated  embarrassments,  which  appalled 
so  many  of  the  sincere  friends  of  missions,  after  the  sailing  of 
the  Caravan  from  Salem,  and  the  Harmony  from  Philadelphia. 

The  sermon  was  preached  before  the  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  of  Salem  and  the  vicinity,  on  the  first  anniversary, 
January  6,  1813.  I  quote  from  the  conclusion  :  — 

"  But,  my  brethren,  it  is  not  enough  that  you  submit  as  the 
willing  subjects  of  our  glorious  King ;  you  must  assist  in  ex- 
tending his  kingdom.  For  what  purpose,  indeed,  do  you  give 
yourselves  and  all  that  you  have  to  him,  but  to  be  employed 
in  his  service,  that  you  may  share  in  the  glory  of  his  triumphs, 
and  sit  down  with  him  on  his  throne  ?  Do  you  ask  how  you 
shall  assist  ?  The  answer  is  ready.  The  great  work  is  before 
you  —  that  of  giving  his  word  to  all  people,  in  their  own  lan- 
guages^ and  sending  faithful  men,  according"  to  Ms  appoint- 
ment, to  preach  it  to  every  creature  under  heaven.  And  every 
one  in  this  house,  every  person  in  the  Christian  world,  has  an 


68  THE  BOARD. 

opportunity,  by  showing  a  friendly  countenance  to  the  work, 
by  praying  for  its  success,  and  by  contributing  as  ability  is  given 
for  its  support  and  furtherance,  to  do  something  for  the  honor 
of  Christ  and  for  his  possession  of  his  kingdom. 

" '  But  some  do  not  approve  of  this  design.'  And  were 
there  not  some,  and  of  those,  too,  who  '  made  their  boast  in 
God,'  who  did  not  approve  of  the  first  publication  of  the  gos- 
pel ?  In  what  age,  indeed,  in  what  part  of  the  world,  have 
the  friends  of  Christ  ever  engaged  in  a  design  for  the  advance- 
ment of  his  kingdom  which  was  not  regarded  with  coldness 
by  some,  with  jealousy  by  others?  which  was  not  discoun- 
tenanced with  derision  by  some,  with  frowns  by  others  ?  which 
was  not  opposed  with  insidious  artifice  by  some,  with  open 
violence  by  others  ? 

"  iBut  it  is  not  necessary  to  propagate  the  gospel  among  the 
heathen;  they  will  do  very  we/1  without  it.'  For  what  pur- 
pose, then,  did  Christ  give  his  blood,  and  command  that  his 
gospel  should  be  preached  to  all  people  ? 

"  'But  it  is  a  vain  attempt  —  the  heathen  will  not  change  their 
religion.'  It  is  the  word,  however,  of  eternal  truth,  that  all 
the  ends  of  the  world  shall  turn  unto  the  Lord,  and  all  the 
kindreds  of  the  nations  shall  worship  before  him.  Whom  shall 
we  believe  ?  Is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  shortened  ?  Is  his  Spirit 
straitened  ? 

"  'But  the  missionaries  will  be  sent  back.''  That  is  yet  to  be 
known.  But  what  if  they  are  ?  What  if  some  men  in  another 
part  of  the  world,  of  a  similar  spirit  with  those  here  who  hope 
it  will  be  so,  should  undertake  to  obstruct  the  mission  ?  Is  a 
large  and  populous  part  of  the  world,  for  such  a  reason,  to  be 
blotted  from  the  map  of  Christ's  dominions  ?  Or,  if  he  per- 
mit one  attempt  for  evangelizing  a  nation  to  fail,  are  his  peo- 
ple, whose  faith  and  perseverance  he  would  thus  try,  pusillani- 
mously  to  relinquish  the  design  ?  Is  it  so,  my  brethren,  that 
we  have  learned  Christ  ?  Then  let  us  never  more  mention  his 
name ! 

"  '  But,  if  permitted  to  stay,  they  must  encounter  great  hard- 
ships and  perils.''  And  pray  how  was  it  with  the  apostles  them- 


REMINISCENCES.  69 

selves,  the  first  missionaries  of  the  cross  ?  Were  they  not  treat- 
ed as  the  '  filth  of  the  world  —  the  offscouring  of  all  things  ?  ' 
Did  not  bonds  and  imprisonments  await  them  at  every  place  ? 
Were  they  not  in  perils  continually,  and  in  deaths  oft  ?  And 
did  not  their  gracious  Lord  know  it  would  be  so  when  he  sent 
them  forth  ? 

"  '•But  they  are  changing  their  sentiments'  Men,  we  know, 
are  liable  to  change  —  are  liable  to  defection.  Nevertheless  the 
foundation  of  God  standeth  sure ;  nor  will  the  grace  of  God 
fail  of  furnishing  stable  and  faithful  men  for  the  missionary 
service. 

"  '  The  expense  must  be  great  —  it  will  impoverish  the  coun- 
try' My  brethren,  how  many  thousands  of  dollars  have  been 
sent  from  this  country  to  India  in  one  year  ?  More  than 
enough  to  support,  for  the  same  time,  a  thousand  missionaries. 
And  for  what  ?  For  articles  more  valuable  than  the  souls  of 
men  ?  for  interests  more  important  than  those  of  Christ's  king- 
dom ?  Then,  indeed,  the  souls  of  men  are  not  worth  the  cost 
of  their  salvation ;  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  not  worth  the 
expense  of  extending  it. 

"  '•But  the  present  is  an  unfavorable  time,  for  people  are  los- 
ing, rather  than  gaining'  property'  Well,  then,  let  them  secure 
at  least  a  small  portion  of  what  they  yet  have,  by  investing  it 
in  that  kingdom  which  shall  endure  forever ;  by  committing 
it  to  Him  who  will  repay  them  with  imperishable  treasures. 
My  brethren,  these  objections,  when  weighed  in  the  balances 
of  the  sanctuary,  will  be  found  lighter  than  air.  Men  may  say 
what  they  please  ;  the  profane  may  taunt,  the  pharisaical  may 
decry,  the  wise  may  demur ;  but  it  is  all  vain.  Christ  will 
advance,  and  take  possession  of  his  kingdom.  '  Every  valley 
shall  be  filled  before  him,  and  every  mountain  and  hill  shall 
be  made  low.'  The  faces  of  those  who  '  make  a  wide  mouth ' 
shall  be  covered  with  confusion  ;  the  wisdom  of  the  wise  shall 
be  turned  into  foolishness ;  and  every  opposing  power  shall  be 
broken  into  pieces.  If  you  decline  the  pleasure,  the  honor, 
the  everlasting  reward  of  aiding  this  work,  others  will  be  found 


70  THE   BOARD. 

who  will  not ;  and  the  work  will  proceed  till  the  shouts  of 
salvation  are  heard  in  every  clime." 

I  would  that  I  could  feel  at  liberty  to  proceed  with  some 
further  illustrations  of  the  events,  aspects,  and  responsibilities 
of  those  times  of  trial.  Indulge  me  a  moment  longer,  and 
listen  to  the  dying  testimony  of  the  first  Secretary  to  the  high 
and  transcendent  importance  of  the  missionary  enterprise. 

"  It  is  no  light  matter,"  he  says,  "  to  live  and  act  for  an  ever- 
lasting state  ;  and  especially  in  public  situations,  connected 
with  the  momentous  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  under 
that  eye,  from  which  no  deed,  or  word,  or  thought,  or  feeling 
is  concealed,  and  which  never  loses  sight  of  what  the  cross 
demands  of  every  man. 

"  One  thing  is  consummated,  and  settled  in  my  iniiid  ;  and 
that  is,  a  full  and  delightful  conviction  that  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions has  never  held  too  high  a  place  in  my  estimation,  or 
engaged  too  large  a  share  of  my  attention.  This  is  saying 
nothing,  and  less  than  nothing.  It  transcends,  immeasurably 
transcends,  the  highest  estimation  of  every  created  mind. 
And  what  is  the  sacrifice  of  health,  what  the  sacrifice  of  life, 
to  such  a  cause  ?  Be  the  event  what  it  may,  recovered  health, 
or  early  death,  I  never  can  regret  what  I  have  done  in  this 
work  ;  but  only  that  I  have  done  so  little,  and  with  a  heart  so 
torpid."  * 

*  Missionary  Herald,  1821,  p.  157. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  CHARTER  AND  THE  LEGISLATURE. 

Difficulties  in  obtaining  a  Charter.  —  Occasion  of  them.  —  The  Petition.  —  In  the  House 
of  Representatives.  —  Provisions  of  the  Charter.  —  Proposed  Amendment  and  its 
Object.  —  A  Salem  Shipmaster.  —  Defense  by  Mr.  Morris.  —  The  Bill  fails.  —  Next 
Legislature.  —  Charter  voted  by  the  House.  —  Opposed  in  the  Senate.  —  Mr.  White's 
Keply.  —  Rejected.  —  Claimed  by  the  House.  —  Disagreement  in  Conference.  —  Passed 
in  Senate,  with  Amendments.  —  Amendments  rejected  by  the  House.  —  Mr.  Crown- 
inshield.  — Charter  granted.  —  Spirit  of  the  Times.  —  Charter  concurred  in  by  Pa- 
trons.—  Its  Value. 

No  history  of  the  proceedings  by  which  the  charter  of  the 
Board  was  obtained,  has  been  written.  The  facts  now  to  be 
given  were  collected  from  the  scanty  records  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  and  from  a  few 
eminent  men  who  were  then  in  public  life.  Tradition  relates, 
and  the  Journals  of  both  branches  of  the  legislature  show, 
that  the  charter  was  obtained  with  difficulty,  and  not  without 
some  disappointment  and  delay.  We  should  not  greatly  won-' 
der  at  this,  considering  that  the  effort  was  made  in  the  very 
year  when  war  was  declared  against  England,  and  how  strong 
the  influence  of  party  feeling  is  in  all  such  seasons  of  national 
agitation.  We  must  also  take  into  view  the  decline  of  evan- 
gelical doctrine  and  feeling  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity  at  that 
period,  and  how  large  a  number  of  professional  men  in  the 
Commonwealth  had  received  their  education  under  influences 
adverse  to  such  doctrine.  Nor  should  we  be  unmindful  that 
the  great  mass  even  of  evangelical  Christians  were  at  that 
time  slow  to  admit  the  feasibility  and  obligation  of  foreign 
missions. 

The  petition  for  a  charter,  dated  February  12,  1812,  and 
signed  by  Drs.  Morse  and  Worcester,  was  as  follows :  — 

(71) 


72  THE  BOARD. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  Honorable  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 
in  General  Court  assembled: 

The  subscribers,  for  themselves  and  their  associates,  beg 
leave  respectfully  to  represent:  That  on  the  twenty-seventh 
day  of  June,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  eighteen  hundred  and 
ten,  a  society  was  instituted  "  for  the  purpose  of  Foreign 
Missions,  and  for  promoting  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  hea- 
then lands ; "  that  in  pursuance  of  the  object  of  this  associa- 
tion, very  considerable  funds  have  been  raised ;  that  five 
young  gentlemen  are  now  going  on  foreign  missions  under 
the  directions  of  the  said  society,  to  the  use  of  which  mission- 
aries they  have  appropriated  the  sum  of  about  five  thousand 
dollars;  that  the  said  society  find  it  very  inconvenient  to 
manage  and  transact  their  business  without  an  incorporation. 
Wherefore  they  pray  that  they  may  be  incorporated  under  a 
suitable  name,  and  invested  with  the  powers  and  privileges 
usually  granted  to  similar  institutions,  and  authorized  to  do 
and  transact  business  as  a  body  politic  and  corporate ;  and  as 
in  duty  bound  will  ever  pray. 

This  petition  was  read  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on 
the  15th  of  February,  and  committed  to  Messrs.  Rantoul  of 
Beverly,  Hathorne  of  Salem,  and  Cushman  of  Middleboro'. 
Mr.  Rantoul  was  a  gentleman  of  much  intelligence.  Though 
not  of  Orthodox  sentiments,  he  is  understood  to  have  inter- 
ested himself  in  the  success  of  the  petitioners,  and  to  have 
enjoyed  their  confidence.  The  petition  was  read  the  same  day 
in  the  Senate,  and  Messrs.  Day  and  White  were  joined  to  the 
committee  of  the  House.  This  committee  recommended 
leave  to  bring  in  a  bill,  and  it  was  granted.  As  the  bill  came 
originally  before  the  legislature,  it  provided  that  the  Board 
might  hold  real  estate  to  the  yearly  value  of  six  thousand 
dollars,  and  personal  estate  yielding  an  annual  income  of 
twelve  thousand.  These  sums  respectively  were  afterward 
reduced  to  four  and  eight  thousand,  —  it  is  presumed  to 


THE    CHARTER    AND    THE   LEGISLATURE.  73 

diminish  the  force  of  objections.  What  are  now  the  seventh 
and  eighth  sections  were  not  in  the  bill  as  originally  reported. 
The  first  reading  in  the  House  was  on  the  25th  of  February, 
after  which  the  bill  was  committed  to  Messrs.  Prentiss  of 
Roxbury,  Redington  of  Vassalboro'  (in  what  is  now  the  State 
of  Maine),  and  Smith  of  West  Springfield.  Dr.  Prentiss  was 
the  friend  and  early  teacher  of  Samuel  Newell,  one  of  the 
first  missionaries  of  the  Board.  He  lived  to  an  advanced  age, 
dying  only  a  few  years  since,  full  of  joy  in  view  of  the  prog- 
ress of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  It  is  matter  of  vain  regret 
that  Dr.  Prentiss's  early  relations  to  the  enterprise  were  not 
known  until  after  his  decease.  The  second  reading  was  on 
the  26th,  and  then,  or  on  the  third  reading,  some  one  moved 
to  add  the  following  section  :  "  That  one  quarter  part  of  the 
annual  income  of  the  said  Board  of  Commissioners  shall  be 
exclusively  appropriated  to  defray  the  expense  of  translating 
the  Holy  Scriptures  into  foreign  languages,  and  of  printing 
and  circulating  the  same."  The  object  of  the,  mover  must 
have  been  unfriendly,  for  the  act  could  not  have  been  accepted 
in  this  form.  So  large  a  proportion  of  the  entire  income  of 
the  Board  could  not  properly  have  been  expended  in  translat- 
ing and  circulating  the  Scriptures  in  foreign  languages.  The 
amendment  was  greatly  modified,  —  but  whether  by  this  or 
the  next  legislature  does  not  appear,  —  so  as  to  read  that  "  one 
quarter  part  of  the  annual  income  from  the  funds  [that 
is,  the  permanent  funds]  of  said  Board  shall  be  faithfully 
appropriated  to  defray  the  expense  of  imparting  the  Holy 
Scriptures  to  unevangelized  nations  in  their  own  languages ; " 
and  a  clause  was  added,  that  nothing  in  the  act  should  be  so 
construed  "  as  to  defeat  the  express  intentions  of  any  testator 
or  donor." 

The  Hon.  Oliver  B.  Morris,  of  Springfield,  was  then  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House,  and  took  part  in  the  debate.  In  reply  to 
inquiries.  Judge  Morris  says,  "  I  have  very  little  recollection 
of  the  incidents  attending  the  debate  to  which  you  refer. 
Nearly  forty-nine  years  have  since  passed  away,  and  almost  all 
the  particulars  respecting  the  subject  have  faded  from  my 
10 


74  THE   BOARD. 

memory.  I  was  then  a  very  young  man,  the  youngest  in  the 
House,  and,  as  I  now  think,  quite  too  young  to  sit  among  the 
'  elders  of  the  land,  as  a  lawgiver  of  my  people.'  The  debate 
occurred  in  the  evening,  at  or  very  near  the  close  of  the  ses- 
sion. A  good  many  members  participated  in  it,  and  some  of 
them,  as  I  thought,  exhibited  an  illiberal  spirit.  A  member 
from  Salem,  who  had  been  a  shipmaster  trading  to  India,  rid- 
iculed the  idea  of  attempting  to  carry  the  gospel  to  that  por- 
tion of  the  heathen  world,  and  said  that  all  efforts  of  that 
kind  would  be  worse  than  vain.  I  have  no  recollection  of  the 
names  of  other  men  who  took  part  in  the  debate  that  evening. 
I  think,  however,  a  member  from  Roxbury  advocated  the  pas- 
sage of  the  bill.  I  confess  I  then  knew  nothing  about  foreign 
missions.  I  was  induced  to  take  the  floor  for  the  purpose  of 
rebuking  the  illiberality  of  the  opposers  of  the  bill.  I  remem- 
ber that  I  stated,  on  rising,  my  entire  ignorance  of  the  views 
of  the  petitioners,  and  that  I  had  no  communications  from 
them  or  their  friends  on  the  subject ;  but  I  knew  they  were 
men  of  high  standing  and  honest  purpose,  and  I  thought  they 
were  entitled  to  the  favor  they  asked.  I  also  remember  that, 
while  on  my  feet,  I  received  suggestions  from  several  gentle- 
men from  Essex,  friendly  to  the  bill,  so  that  with  their  aid  I 
occupied  the  time  of  the  House  much  longer  than  I  intended 
when  I  first  addressed  the  Chair.  I  also  remember  that,  on 
the  rising  of  the  House,  several  gentlemen,  strangers  to  me 
till  then,  met  me  and  thanked  me  for  the  part  I  had  taken. 
I  dare  not,  my  dear  sir,  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years, 
attempt  to  state  any  thing  further  on  the  subject  about  which 
you  inquire." 

The  gentleman  from  Salem,  who  took  so  active  a  part  in 
the  opposition,  though  not  named  by  the  writer,  was  Benjamin 
JW.  Crowninshield,  afterward  Secretary  of  the  Navy  under 
President  Madison.  Elbridge  Gerry  was  at  that  time  Governor 
of  the  State,  and  the  ruling  party  in  the  House  were  in  strong 
sympathy  with  him,  and  with  the  war  spirit  of  the  times,  and 
more  influenced,  it  may  be,  by  the  fact  that  the  petitioners 
and  their  clerical  supporters  in  the  Commonwealth  were 


THE   CHARTER   AND  THE   LEGISLATURE.  75 

generally  on  the  other  side,  than  by  a  feeling  of  direct  hostility 
to  missions.  The  bill  failed  to  pass ;  for  when  the  question 
was  put,  "  Shall  this  bill  be  engrossed  ?"  it  was  ordered  "  that 
the  further  consideration  of  it  be  postponed  till  the  first  session 
of  the  next  General  Court ; "  yeas,  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine  ;  nays,  one  hundred  and  twenty.  And  so  that  House  of 
Representatives  refused  to  incorporate  the  Board. 

The  next  legislature  met  on  the  last  Wednesday  of  May 
following.  Caleb  Strong  had  been  elected  Governor,  and  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  corresponding  change  in  the  political 
character  of  the  new  House,  though  it  was  otherwise  with  the 
Senate,  owing  to  a  peculiar  arrangement  in  the  senatorial 
districts  of  the  Commonwealth,  which  the  reigning  party  had 
made  in  the  year  previous.  The  bill  was  called  up  in  the 
House,  on  the  2d  of  June,  by  Mr.  Russell,  of  Boston,  then 
widely  known  as  editor  of  the  "  Columbian  Centinel."  It  was 
referred  to  Messrs.  Russell,  Banister  of  Newburyport,  and  Dr. 
Prentiss,  who  reported  it,  somewhat  enlarged,  in  a  revised  draft, 
which  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Evarts,  with  the  names  of 
Hon.  William  Phillips,  of  Boston,  then  Lieutenant  Governor, 
and  Hon.  John  Hooker,  of  Springfield,  as  additional  corpora- 
tors. Having  been  twice  read,  it  was  recommitted  to  Messrs. 
Dwight,  Rantoul,  and  Hammond,  and  the  final  reading  as- 
signed for  Saturday,  June  6 ;  when  it  passed  to  be  engrossed, 
and  was  sent  up  to  the  Senate. 

The  bill  seems  not  to  have  met  with  favor  from  the  major- 
ity in  the  Senate,  at  least  in  the  first  instance.  The  Hon. 
Daniel  A.  White,  of  Salem,  who  has  recently  deceased,*  was 
at  that  time  a  resident  of  Newburyport,  and  had  been  re- 
quested, as  he  informed  the  writer  a  few  months  since,  by 
"  his  venerable  friend  Dr.  Spring,"  to  attend  to  the  case. 
Mr.  Crowninshield  had  been  elected  to  the  Senate,  and  re- 
newed his  zealous  opposition  to  the  bill,  which,  early  in  the 
year,  had  been  so  successful  in  the  other  body.  Professing 
to  speak  from  personal  knowledge  of  missions  in  the  East,  he 

*  Judge  White  died  in  Salem,  Mass.,  March  30,  1861. 


76  THE   BOARD. 

represented  the  conduct  of  missionaries  there  as  unworthy, 
and  their  labors  as  worse  than  useless.  Of  course  the  project 
of  sending  money  out  of  the  country  for  their  support,  when 
it  was  so  much  needed  for  religion  at  home,  was  to  be  repro- 
bated. Mr.  White  replied  to  Mr.  Crowninshield ;  but  the 
newspapers  made  no  report  of  speeches  in  our  State  legislature 
in  those  days,  and  our  friend  was  unable  to  recall  his  argument 
after  so  great  a  lapse  of  time.  In  an  address  to  the  public  on 
the  subject  of  missions,  in  the  year  following,  supposed  to  have 
been  written  by  Mr.  Evarts,  it  is  said,  tbat  "  when  it  was  ob- 
jected on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts  to  the  act 
for  incorporating  the  Board,  that  it  was  designed  to  afford  the 
means  of  exporting  religion,  whereas  there  was  none  to  spare 
'from  among-  ourselves,  it  was  pleasantly  and  truly  replied,  that 
religion  was  a  commodity  of  which  the  more  we  exported  the 
more  we  had  remaining"  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
this  beautiful  and  suggestive  reply  was  made  by  Mr.  White. 
But  it  does  not  seem  to  have  carried  conviction  to  the  Senate ; 
for  on  the  llth  of  June,  when  the  President  put  the  question, 
"  Shall  this  bill  pass  to  be  engrossed,  in  concurrence  with  the 
House  ? "  the  vote  was  in  the  negative.  "  Whereupon,"  says 
the  Journal  of  the  Senate,  "  Mr.  White  gave  notice  that  at  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  should  move  for  a  reconsideration 
of  this  vote."  No  record  is  preserved  of  such  a  motion,  though 
it  was  doubtless  made,  and  there  is  no  record  of  the  precise 
state  of  the  votes  in  the  Senate.  But  the  other  House  had  en- 
tered into  the  measure  with  a  different  spirit  from  their  prede- 
cessors, and  too  deeply  to  give  up  the  point ;  and  hearing  the  fate 
of  their  bill,  they  sent  a  request  that  it  might  be  returned  to 
them.  The  Senate's  Journal  thus  records  the  fact :  "  June  13. 
Mr.  Knapp,  of  Newburyport,  came  up  with  a  message  from  the 
Honorable  House,  to  request  the  Senate  to  send  down  the  bill 
entitled  An  Act  to  incorporate  the  American  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions ;  which  was  sent  down  according- 
ly." After  two  days  tbe  House  proposed  a  conference,  —  an  un- 
usual proceeding  where  a  bill  has  been  rejected  by  one  branch, 
— and  appointed  Messrs.  Mellen  of  Cambridge,  Stevens  of  Stone- 


THE   CHARTER   AND   THE   LEGISLATURE.  77 

ham,  and  Osgood  of  Newbury,  a  committee  on  their  part. 
The  Senate  agreed  to  the  conference,  and  appointed  Messrs. 
Moody,  Crowiiinshield,  and  Ripley.  The  conference  was 
unsuccessful ;  and  the  Senate's  committee  reported  on  the  17th 
of  June,  —  the  very  day  when  war  was  declared  with  England, 
—  that  the  joint  committee  "  could  come  to  no  agreement  on 
the  subject-matter  of  the  difference  between  the  two  Houses,  and 
that  the  Senate  ought  to  adhere  to  their  former  vote."  But 
the  Senate,  having  obtained  a  somewhat  better  understanding 
of  the  case,  or  of  the  state  of  public  opinion  on  the  subject, 
rejected  the  report  of  their  committee,  "  and  the  said  bill,  hav- 
ing had  two  several  readings,  passed  to  be  engrossed,  iii  con- 
currence with  the  Honorable  House,  with  amendments"  The 
Journal  of  the  Senate  does  not  inform  us  what  these  amend- 
ments were,  and  no  one  of  the  surviving  members  recollects  their 
nature.  But  whatever  they  were,  the  House  refused  to  con- 
cur in  them.  The  Senate  thereupon  receded  from  all  amend- 
ments, save  one.  The  House  Journal  states,  that  on  the  19th 
of  June,  the  "  Hon.  Mr.  Crowiiinshield  came  down  from  the 
Honorable  Senate,  proposing  an  amendment  in  the  bill  respect- 
ing Foreign  Missions,  and  requesting  the  concurrence  of  the 
House,  which  amendment  was  debated,  and  non-concurred ; 
and  therefore  Mr.  Stevens  was  charged  with  a  message  to  the 
Honorable  Senate,  stating  the  non-concurrence  of  the  House." 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  precise  ground  of  this  last 
stand  of  the  opposition,  but  there  are  no  means  of  ascertaining 
it.  Neither  Mr.  White,  nor  the  Hon.  Marcus  Morton,  who  was 
then  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  recollects  it ;  though  Governor 
Morton  testifies  to  the  fact,  —  which  might  be  inferred  from 
the  Journals  of  the  two  bodies,  —  "  that  the  subject  excited  a 
good  deal  of  interest  at  the  time."  He  states  also  his  recol- 
lection, "  that  the  opposition  to  the  bill  was  very  strong,  and 
that  the  speeches  against  it  were  very  animated  and  pretty  vio- 
lent." But  the  House  would  not  recede  from  the  stand  they 
had  taken,  and  so  the  Senate  at  length  yielded.  The  Act  of 
Incorporation,  as  it  now  stands,  was  passed  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  on  the  19th  of  June,  and  by  the  Senate  on  the 


78  THE  BOARD. 

20th ;  and  thus  the  Board  acquired  a  legal  existence,  which 
has  been  of  incalculable  value  to  it,  and  to  the  cause  it  rep- 
resents. 

This  narrative  illustrates  the  opinions  and  spirit,  which  were 
more  or  less  prevalent  in  those  early  times,  in  regard  to  send- 
ing Christian  missionaries  to  the  heathen.  It  would  be  grati- 
fying to  consult  the  debates  on  a  measure,  the  importance  of 
which  not  the  wisest  of  the  men  concerned  in  it  were  then  able 
to  appreciate.  No  report,  not  even  an  abstract  of  the  debates, 
probably  exists.  Not  one  of  five  Boston  newspapers  that  have 
been  consulted  gives  even  an  intimation  of  the  discussion. 
Two  mention  the  rejection  of  the  bill  by  the  Senate,  and  sig- 
nificantly attach  a  couple  of  exclamation  points.  There  were 
then  no  religious  newspapers,  as  now,  to  look  after  such  matters. 

On  the  25th  of  the  same  month  in  which  the  charter  was 
obtained,  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  Drs. 
Spring  and  Morse  being  present,  voted,  "  That  the  measures 
adopted  by  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  in  procuring  the  act  of  incorporation  for  securing 
its  funds,  and  in  the  commencement  of  missions,  meet  the 
entire  approbation  of  this  body."  In  an  address  of  the  Pru- 
dential Committee,  soon,  after,  it  was  stated  that  the  advan- 
tages of  perpetual  succession,  and  of  holding  funds  under  the 
immediate  protection  of  the  law,  which  could  be  obtained  only 
by  an  act  of  incorporation,  were  highly  important  to  secure 
the  confidence  of  the  American  public. 

This  incorporation  of  the  Board  has  been  virtually  acknowl- 
edged in  all  the  States  of  our  Union ;  and  even  in  the  remote 
territories  of  the  East  India  Company  it  has  been  only  neces- 
sary to  furnish  an  authenticated  copy  of  the  act  to  secure  an 
admission  of  the  right  of  the  Board  to  hold  property  in  those 
territories.  The  Board  has  thus  acquired  an  acknowledged 
legal  personality,  which  has  been  found  sufficient  for  all  finan- 
cial interests  throughout  the  world.  In  no  other  way,  proba- 
bly, could  it  have  gained  that  credit  in  the  commercial  world, 
which  has  made  its  bills  as  good  as  gold  to  its  missionaries  in 
every  land. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

CONSTITUTION  AND  MEMBERSHIP. 

Object  of  the  Board.  —Range  of  its  Duties.  — Not  a  State  Institution.  —  At  first  Congre- 
gational.—  Proposal  to  the  General  Assembly.  —  Assembly's  Reasons  for  not  forming 
a  Separate  Organization.  —  The  Board  ceases  to  be  Denominational — Becomes  Na- 
tional. —  The  Founders.  —  Officers.  —  Corresponding  Members.  —  Honorary  Members. 
—  Number  of  Members.  —  In  each  State.  —  In  Foreign  Lands.  —  Summary.  —  Duties  of 
Prudential  Committee.  —  Working  Capacity  of  the  Board.  —  Wide  Range  of  its  Meet- 
ings.—  Attendance  of  Members. —  Identity  of  its  Meetings.  —  Its  Hold  on  the  Affec- 
tions of  its  Patrons. 

THE  "  Board  of  Commissioners  "  was  designed,  as  its  name 
indicates,  to  act  for  others.  For  whom  ?  For  all  who  should 
choose  to  employ  it ;  for  individual  Christians,  churches,  de- 
nominations, whoever  saw  fit  to  act  through  the  agency  it  had 
to  offer.  It  was  created  for  "  devising  ways  and  means,  and 
adopting  and  prosecuting  measures,  for  the  spread  of  the  gos- 
pel in  heathen  lands."  It  was  incorporated,  and  now  exists, 
"  for  propagating  the  gospel  in  heathen  lands  by  supporting 
missionaries  and  diffusing  a  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures." 
The  Board,  in  its  "  Laws  and  Regulations,"  declares  its  object 
to  be  "  to  propagate  the  gospel  among  unevangelized  nations 
and  communities  by  means  of  preachers,  catechists,  school- 
masters, and  the  press."  It  thus  explains  its  sense  of  the 
meaning  of  "  heathen  lands,"  in  the  charter,  to  be  the  same 
with  "  unevangelized  nations  and  communities."  The  North 
American  Indians  are  of  course  within  its  province,  until  they 
shall  have  been  Christianized.*  So  are  all  pagan  nations,  and 

*  "  This  Board  is  limited,  by  charter,  to  the  purpose  of  propagating  the  gos- 
pel in  heathen  lands  by  supporting  missionaries  and  diffusing  the  knowledge 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It  hence  became  a  serious  question  with  the  Board, 
whether  the  Indian  tribes  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States  and  their 
territories  were  within  our  limits.  This  question  has  been  determined  in  the 
affirmative.  The  Indian  tribes,  but  no  other  people  of  these  States  and  Terri- 

(79) 


80  THE   BOARD. 

the  Mohammedans.  In  respect  to  the  nominal  Christians  of 
Western  Asia,  it  is  at  least  true,  that  their  evangelization  is  an 
indispensable  means  of  effecting  that  of  the  Moslems  among 
whom  they  dwell.  Perhaps  the  Board  might  properly  have 
extended  its  missions  into  some  of  the  more  benighted  parts 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  world.  It  did  no  more,  however,  than 
explore  a  considerable  portion  of  South  America^  in  the  years 
1823-1826.* 

The  number  of  Commissionersjwas  originally  nine,,  all  resi- 
dents of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  belonging  to  the 
Congregational  body.  Three  were  added  from  Massachusetts 
the  following  year.  It  should  be  noted  that  four  of  the  twelve 
gentlemen  incorporated  by  the  Massachusetts  legislature  be- 
longed to  the  State  of  Connecticut ;  and  that  the  first  meeting 
of  the  Board  under  the  charter  was  not  held  in  Massachusetts, 
but  in  Connecticut,  under  an  appointment  distinctly  authorized 
by  the  charter.  Though  both  of  these  facts  would  seem  to 
have  been  casual,  they  were  important.  The  first  settled  the 
principle,  that  the  members  of  the  Board  need  not  be  restricted 
to  the  State  which  gave  the  act  of  incorporation ;  and  the 
Board  has  felt  at  liberty  to  elect^its_members  from  every  part 
of  the  Union,  and  so  has  become^ national  institution.  The 
other  sanctioned  the  holding  of  its  meetings  in  any  one  of  the 
United  States,  and  countenances  the  extended  range  of  places 
in  which  they  have  been  held  —  from  Portland  in  Maine,  to 
Detroit  in  Michigan  and  Cincinnati  in  Ohio. 

The  Board  seems  at  first  to  have  had  no  thought  of  becom- 
ing any  thing  more  than  a  Congregational  body.  At  its  sec- 
ond meeting,  in  1811,  it  suggested  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  the  forming  of  a  similar  body  of 
its  own,  with  which  the  Board  might  cooperate  in  the  work 
of  foreign  missions.  The  attendance  of  Drs.  Lyman  and 
Worcester  at  the  General  Assembly,  a  few  months  before,  as 
delegates  from  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  may 

tories,  are  regarded  by  the  Board  as  coming  within  the  description  of  heathen 
lands."  —  Letter  from  Dr.  Worcester,  Nov.  15,  1815. 
*  Missionary  Herald,  1824-1826. 


CONSTITUTION   AND   MEMBEESHIP.  81 

have  prepared  the  way  for  this  proposition,  and  perhaps  also 
for  the  reply.  The  Assembly's  response,  dated  June  2, 1812, 
was  as  follows  :  — 

Having  had  under  consideration  the  important  and  inter- 
esting vote  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners,  by  which 
they  submit  to  the  Assembly  the  expediency  of  forming  an 
institution  similar  to  theirs,  between  which  and  theirs  there 
may  be  such  cooperation  as  shall  promote  the  great  object  of 
missions  among  the  unevangelized  nations,  it  appears  proper 
to  state, — 

1.  That  it  is  matter  of  sincere  joy,  in  their  apprehension, 
to  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the  souls  of  men,  — 
a  joy  in  which  the  committee  doubt  not  that  the  Assembly  has 
a  lively  participation,  —  that  the  brethren  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  have,  by  the 
exertions  they  have  used,  and  the  success  of  these  exertions, 
demonstrated  that  the  churches  of  America  are  desirous  to 
embark,  with  their  Protestant  brethren  in  Europe,  in  the  holy 
enterprise  of  evangelizing  the  heathen. 

2.  That  as  the  churches  under  the  care  of  the  Assembly 
rejoice  in  the  foreign  missions  organized,  and  about  to  be 
organized,  by  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners,  so,  as 
opportunity  favors,  they  ought  to  aid  them,  as  they  have  in  a 
measure  already  aided  them,  by  contributions  to  their  funds, 
and  every  other  facility  which  they  could  offer  to  so  commend- 
able an  undertaking. 

3.  That,  as  the  business  of  foreign  missions  may  properly 
be  best  managed  under  the  direction  of  a  single  Board,  so  the 
numerous  and  extensive  engagements  of   the  Assembly,  in 
regard  to  domestic  missions,  render  it  extremely  inconvenient, 
at  this  time,  to  take  a  part  in  the  business  of  foreign  missions. 
And  the  Assembly,  it  is  apprehended,  may  the  rather  decline 
these  missions,  inasmuch  as  the  committee  are  informed  that 
missionary   societies  have   lately  been  instituted  in   several 
places  within  the  bounds  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which 
make  foreign  missions  a  particular  object  of  their  attention. 

11 


82  THE  BOARD. 

"With  this  document  before  them,  the  Board  was  led  to 
extend  its  membership  into  the  Presbyterian  Church  ;  and,  at 
the  annual  meeting  of  1812,  eight  Commissioners  were  added 
from  among  the  more  prominent  members  of  that  Church, 
residing  in  the  States  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. Others  were  also  elected  from  New  Hampshire,  Ver- 
mont, and  Rhode  Island. 

Thus  did  the  Board  prepare  itself  to  act  as  a  national  insti- 
tution in  this  great  work ;  and  perhaps  there  was  never  an 
equal  number  of  good  men  associated  together,  for  any  cause, 
who  were  more  deserving  of  general  confidence.  At  the  close 
of  the  year  1813,  the  Board  was  composed  of  the  following 
persons,  of  whom  but  one  now  survives  —  the  venerable  Dr. 
Nott,  of  Schenectady,  New  York. 

From  MASSACHUSETTS,  Samuel  Spring,  D.  D.,  Samuel 
Worcester,  D.  D.,  William  Bartlet,  Esq.,  Joseph  Lymaii, 
D.  D.,  Jedediah  Morse,  D.  D.,  Hon.  William  Phillips,  Hon. 
John  Hooker,  and  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq. 

From  CONNECTICUT,  John  Treadwell,  LL.  D.,  Calvin  Cha- 
-pin,  D.  D.,  Timothy  Dwight,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  and  General 
Jedidiah  Huntington. 

From  NEW  HAMPSHIRE,  John  Langdon,  LL.  D.,  and  Seth 
Pay  sou,  D.  D. 

From  MAINE,  Jesse  Appleton,  D.  D.,  and  General  Henry 
Sewall. 

From  VERMONT,  Henry  Davis,  D.  D. 

From  RHODE  ISLAND,  Hon.  William  Jones. 

From  NEW  YORK,  John  Jay,  LL.  D.,  Samuel  Miller,  D.  D., 
Egbert  Benson,  LL.  D.,  and  Eliphalet  Nott,  D.  D. 

From  NEW  JERSEY,  Elias  Boudinot,  LL.  D.,  and  James 
Richards,  D.  D. 

From  PENNSYLVANIA,  Ashbel  Green,  D.  D.,  and  Robert 
Ralston,  Esq. 

These  twenty-six  persons  may  be  regarded  as  the  founders 
of  the  Board,  viewed  in  its  broad,  national  character,  and 
some  account  of  them  will  be  given  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

The  charter  provides  for  the  election  of  a  President,  Vice 


CONSTITUTION   AND   MEMBERSHIP.  83 

President,  Prudential  Committee,  and  such  a  number  of  Cor- 
responding Secretaries  and  other  officers  as  the  Board  shall 
deem  expedient,  who  hold  office  till  others  are  elected.  Con-, 
tracts  and  deeds  require  the  signature  of  the  chairman  and 
clerk  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  and  are  to  be  sealed  with 
the  common  seal  of  the  corporation.  Members  must  be 
elected  by  ballot,  at  an  annual  meeting ;  and  not  less  than 
one  third  of  the  body  must  be  composed  of  respectable  lay- 
men, not  less  than  a  third  of  respectable  clergymen,  and  the 
remaining  third  of  "  characters  of  the  same  description,  whether 
clergymen  or  laymen." 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  1819,  a  class  of  'members  called 
CORRESPONDING  MEMBERS,  was  added  to  the  Board,  to  be  chosen 
by  ballot,  who  should  be  composed  of  clergymen  and  laymen, 
residing  in  different,  and  especially  in  distant  parts  of  the  United 
States,  and  in  other  lands ;  and  who,  though  it  was  no  part 
of  their  official  duty  to  attend  its  meetings,  or  to  take  part  in  its 
votes  and  resolutions,  might  yet  assist  in  its  deliberations  when 
present,  and  in  various  ways  facilitate  its  operations.  A  score 
of  distinguished  men  were  accordingly  then  chosen  in  the 
different  Southern  and  South-western  States,  and  about  half 
as  many  in  foreign  lands.  It  soon  appeared,  however,  that 
the  expectations  of  the  Board  with  regard  to  the  utility  of 
this  measure  were  not  likely  to  be  realized  ;  and  no  elections 
having  been  made  in  that  class  of  members  for  several  years, 
it  is  now  nearly  extinct. 

The  plan  for  another  class,  called  HONORARY  MEMBERS, 
adopted  in  1821,  has  proved  eminently  successful.  These  are 
constituted  by  the  payment  of  fifty  dollars,  if  clergymen,  or 
of  one  hundred  dollars,  if  laymen.  Though  they  may  not  vote, 
they  have  all  the  rights  of  Corporate  members  to  move  resolu- 
tions, serve  on  committees,  and  assist  in  the  deliberations  of 
the  Board. 

The  following  is  a  tabular  view  of  the  Honorary  members, 
carefully  prepared  from  the  list  in  the  Report  of  the  Board 
for  the  year  1860 :  — 


84 


THE   BOARD. 


HONORARY  MEMBERS. 


UNITED  STATES. 

Clergy- 

Others. 

Total. 

FOREIGN  LANDS.* 

Clergy- 
men. 

Others. 

Total. 

193 
231 
208 
790 
29 
480 
1034 
162 
133 
8 
20 
16 
235 
43 
127 
85 
38 
25 
7 
21 
3 
64 
20 
18 
24 
4 
6 
18 
46 
9 
7 
2 
6 
5 
3 
0 
8 
2 
1 
105 

263 
453 
330 
2992 
119 
1095 
1843 
260 
264 
13 
20 
7 
266 
19 
148 
76 
32 
16 
4 
29 
9 
62 
5 
25 
45 
4 
8 
9 
16 
14 
13 
1 
9 
2 
1 
1 
9 
3 
0 
35 

456 
684 
538 
3782 
148 
1575 
2S77 
422 
397 
21 
40 
23 
501 
62 
275 
161 
70 
41 
11 
50 
12 
126 
25 
43 
6.9 
8 
14 
27 
62 
23 
20 
3 
15 
7 
4 
1 
17 
5 
1 
140 

37 
4 
23 
10 
5 
1 
6 
0 
2 
1 
0 
0 
3 
1 
57 
13 
47 
0 
1 
1 
19 
3 
0 
35 
5 
2 
3 
2 
1 
1 
1 
11 
6 

52 
3 
21 
13 
0 
0 
1 
1 
4 
0 
1 
4 
0 
0 
40 
18 
25 
2 
0 
1 
7 
0 
1 
55 
0 
0 
0 
2 
4 
0 
1 
4 
2 

89 

44 
23 

5 
1 

7 
1 
6 
1 
1 
4 

a 

i 

97 
31 

72 
2 
1 
2 
26 
3 
1 
90 
5 
2 
3 
4 
5 
1 
2 
15 
8 

New  Hampshire,  .  .  . 

New  Brunswick,  .  .  . 

Massachusetts,.  .  .  . 
Rhode  Island,  .... 

Scotland,    

Pennsylvania,  .... 

Switzerland,  

Italy,  

Maryland,  

District  of  Columbia, 
Ohio,  

Russia,  

Greece,  

Malta,  

Illinois,  

Turkey,  

Michigan,  

Iowa,  

Ceylon,    

giam,    

Borneo,  

North  Carolina,  .  .  . 
South  Carolina,  .  .  . 

Sandwich  Islands,  .  . 

Florida,  

Other  Pacific  Isles,  . 

New  Granada,  .... 
Chili,    

Tennessee,  

Buenos  Ay  res,  .... 
St  Helena,    

Texas,  

West  Africa,  .  .  . 

In  Foreign  Lands,  . 
In  the  U.  States,  .  . 

Total,.  .  . 

Kansas  Territory,  .  . 
"Washington  Territory 
Choctaw  Nation,  .  .  . 
Cherokee  Nation,    .  . 
Chickasaw  Nation,  .  . 
Unknown,  

301 
4236 

262 
8520 

563 
12750 

4537 

8782 

13319 

Total,  .  .  . 

4236 

8520 

12756 

SUMMARY. 

Clergy- 
men. 

Others. 

Total. 

1931 
1034 
295 
44 
136 
490 
45 
46 
f.4 
21 
11 
3 
11 
301 
105 

5252 
1843 
524 
40 
149 
509 
36 
45 
25 
37 
11 
2 
12 
262 
35 

7183 
2877 
819 
84 
285 
999 
81 
91 
89 
53 
22 
5 
23 
563 
140 

New  Jersey  and  Penns 
Delaware,  Maryland,  a 
Virginia,  and  five  State 
Ohio,  Michigan,  Indiai 
Wisconsin  and  Minne 

ylvani 
nd  Dif 

8  SOUt 

ia,  and 
3Ota 

trict  of  Colu 

Illinc 

Kentucky  and  Tenness 
Mississippi,  Louisiana, 
California  and  Oregon, 
Kansas  and  Washingtc 
Indian  Nations,     . 

ee,  

Arkansas,  and  Tex 

n  Territories 

1 

otal,  

4537 

8782 

13319 

*  The  members  in  foreign  lands  are  believed  to  be,  for  the  most  part,  American  citizens. 
In  countries  where  the  Board  has  missions,  nearly  all  of  them  are  missionaries. 

CONSTITUTION   AND   MEMBERSHIP.  85 

Three  hundred  and  fifty-eight  persons  have  been  elected 
Corporate  members  from  the  beginning.  Of  these,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-three  were  from  the  New  England  States,  one 
hundred  and  forty-one  from  the  Middle  States,  forty-three 
from  the  Western  States,  and  twenty-one  from  the  Southern 
States.  The  number  at  the  close  of  the  half-century  is  two 
hundred  and  fourteen,  distributed  as  follows :  eighty-eight  in 
New  England,  the  same  number  in  the  Middle  States,  thirty- 
four  in  the  Western  States,  and  four  in  the  Southern.  The 
clergymen  are  one  hundred  and  twenty-four,  and  ninety  are 
laymen.  As  many  as  thirteen  thousand  three  hundred  and 
nineteen  persons  have  been  constituted  Honorary  members. 
One  third  have  been  clergymen,  or,  to  speak  more  accurately, 
four  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-seven ;  leaving  the 
number  of  persons  not  clergymen  eight  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  eighty-two.  It  is  impossible  to  say  how  many  of 
these  are  now  living,  but  probably  not  far  from  ten  thousand. 

The  business  of  originating  and  conducting  the  missions, 
appointing  and  directing  the  missionaries,  and  collecting  and 
expending  the  funds,  is  intrusted  to  the  Prudential  Committee, 
who  make  a  summary  report  of  their  proceedings  to  the  Board 
at  the  close  of  each  financial  year.  It  is  then  the  business  of 
the  Board  to  revise  their  proceedings.  The  duties  of  the 
Corresponding  and  Recording  Secretaries,  the  Treasurer,  and 
the  District  Secretaries,  are  distinctly  and  fully  specified  in 
the  Laws  and  Regulations  of  the  Board,  and  need  not  be 
stated  here. 

It  is  probable  that  improvements  may  be  made  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Board  during  the  second  half-century,  as  the 
result  of  experience  and  the  progress  of  events.  But,  in  point 
of  fact,  no  other  method  of  organizing  missionary  societies 
is  believed  to  have  worked  with  less  friction,  or  with  more 
power  and  effect  than  this,  in  the  past  fifty  years.  For  an 
eminently  experimental  age  of  missions,  for  a  mixed  commu- 
nity (ecclesiastically  considered)  such  as  the  Board  has  rep- 
resented, and  for  the  time  of  unsettled  relations  of  the  foreign 
missionary  enterprise  to  the  great  moral  reforms  of  the  age, 
there  was  special?  need  of  a  conservative  element  in  the  con- 


86 


THE  BOARD. 


stitution  of  the  Board ;  and  perhaps  no  better  method  of 
organization  could  have  been  devised,  than  the  one  our  fathers 
were  providentially  led  to  adopt.  Of  the  fifty-three  meetings, 
annual  and  special,  forty  have  been  held,  in  nearly  equal  pro- 
portions, in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New  York.  Of 
the  twenty-five  different  places  of  meeting,  Maine,  Rhode 
Island,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Ohio,  and  Mich- 
igan have  each  one,  Connecticut  five,  Massachusetts  six,  and 
New  York  seven.  The  annual  meetings,  alternating  between 
New  England  and  the  other  States,  have  ranged  from  Port- 
land to  Cincinnati,  a  distance  of  more  than  a  thousand  miles. 
With  its  present  organization,  and  the  acknowledged  obligation 
resting  upon  the  Corporate  members  to  attend,  there  is  no 
difficulty  in  the  Board's  holding  its  three-days'  deliberative 
meetings  in  any  portion  of  the  land.  The  Honorary  members 
attending  the  meetings  in  the  places  most  remote  from  each 
other,  constitute  in  great  measure  different  bodies,  but  it  is 
not  so  with  the  Corporate  members ;  and  for  all  the  purposes 
of  trusteeship,  responsibility,  and  an  intelligent  and  wise 
administration,  the  incorporated  Board  sufficiently  preserves 
its  identity  at  the  several  meetings.  Of  the  forty-seven  Cor- 
porate members  present  at  Cincinnati,  in  1853,  twenty-four 
were  from  New  England  and  New  York,  and  nearly  forty  had 
attended  most  of  the  meetings  from  the  time  of  their  election. 
It  was  so  with  the  whole  number  from  New  England.  The 
following  table  shows  the  attendance  of  the  Corporate 
members :  — 


36  have 
20 
30 

each  atte 

nded  1  meeting. 
2  meetings. 
3 

13  have 
11 
9 

each  atte 

nded  14  me 
15 
16 

stings. 

27 

4 

2 

17 

15 

5 

4 

18 

23 

6 

4 

19 

15 

7 

1 

20 

12 

8 

8 

21 

19 

9 

3 

26 

11 

10 

1 

27 

14 

11 

1 

31 

6 

12 

1 

34 

4 

13 

52  have  attended  none. 

CONSTITUTION    AND   MEMBERSHIP.  87 

Of  the  thirty-six  who  attended  but  one  meeting,  it  is  certain 
that  want  of  interest,  in  most  cases,  was  not  the  reason.  Of 
the  fifty-two  who  never  attended,  fourteen  were  in  New  Eng- 
land, sixteen  in  the  Middle  States,  eight  in  the  Western,  and 
fourteen  in  the  Southern.  A  considerable  number  belonged 
to  the  Old  School  Presbyterian  Church,  which  formed  a  Board 
of  its  o.wn  in  the  year  1837.  In  others,  the  southern  feeling, 
or  the  infirmities  of  age,  or  early  death  prevented.  Ninety- 
three  of  the  members  have  averaged  an  attendance  on  fifteen 
meetings.  The  advantages  afforded  by  such  an  attendance  on 
deliberative  meetings  of  three  days'  continuance,  for  under- 
standing the  work  of  missions,  and  acting  intelligently  in 
relation  to  the  same,  must  be  obvious. 

Our  fathers  were  providentially  led  to  the  existing  form  of 
organization  as  best  adapted  to  their  day.  It  was  instituted 
solely  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  among  the  heathen,  and 
has  worked  better  hitherto  than  any  one  of  its  founders  ven- 
tured to  expect.  The  attendance  and  interest  at  its  annual 
meetings,  the  responses  to  its  appeals  for  funds,  the  number 
and  character  of  the  men  who  go  as  its  missionaries,  the 
success  of  its  missions,  and  the  standing  it  is  permitted  to 
hold  in  the  estimation  of  Christians  generally,  place  it  on  a 
footing  with  the  most  favored  kindred  institutions  of  modern 
times,  whether  voluntary  or  ecclesiastical.  Nor  does  it  appear 
to  have  less  hold  than  any  other  one  of  the  societies  on  the 
confidence  and  affection  of  its  missionaries,  nor  upon  the  com- 
munity to  which  it  looks  for  support. 


CHAPTEE    V. 

RELATIONS  TO  ECCLESIASTICAL  BODIES. 

Relations  to  Contributors  and  to  Missionaries.  —  To  Ecclesiastical  Bodies.  —  By  the 
Elements  of  its  Existence.  —  By  Formal  Recognitions.  —  By  Donations  from 
Churches. —  By  Resolutions,  and  other  Formal  Acts  of  General  Associations,  Syn- 
ods, and  Assemblies.  —  General  Assembly  in  1825  and  1831. —  General  Synod  of 
Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church.  —  Compact  of  1832. —  How  understood,  and 
the  Effect.  —  Minute  of  Prudential  Committee.  —  Objections  to  the  Plan.  —  Letter  to 
General  Synod.  —  Synod's  Response,  and  subsequent  Proposal.  —  Mutual  Convic- 
tion.—  The  Compact  dissolved.  —  How  the  Connection  with  Missionaries  was  dis- 
solved. —  Mutual  Tokens  of  Respect.  —  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  —  Old 
School  General  Assembly's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  —  The  New  School  Pres- 
byterians.—  Relations  to  Ecclesiastical  Bodies.  —  A  Second  Statement.  —  Embar- 
rassment of  Prudential  Committee.  —  Explanatory  Resolve.  — The  Board  not  an 
Ecclesiastical  Body.  —  Has  no  Ecclesiastical  Powers.  —  No  Effect  on  the  Ecclesias- 
tical Relations  of  its  Missionaries. —  Scope  for  the  two  Bodies.  —  The  Board  not  a 
Voluntary  Association.  —  The  Practical  Working. 

THE  primary  relations  of  the  Board  are  to  its  contributors, 
and  to  the  missionaries  under  its  care.  To  the  former  it  is 
directly  responsible  for  carrying  out  their  known  intentions ; 
and  to  the  latter  for  a  wise  and  equitable  distribution  of  the 
funds  which  are  placed  at  its  disposal.  It  is  directly  amenable 
to  its  patrons,  and  must  retain  their  confidence  and  good  will, 
or  come  to  a  speedy  close.  There  can  be  no  more  effective 
control  of  a  great  working  body,  than  the  patrons  of  the  Board 
silently  exercise  over  its  operations.  And  this  controlling 
influence  is  believed  to  be  just  as  effective  with  its  present 
constitution,  to  secure  conformity  to  the  general  sentiment  of 
its  patrons,  as  would  be  possible  with  any  other  constitution^ 

But  there  exist  also  important  relations  between  the  Board 
and  Ecclesiastical  Bodies,  as  such  —  Churches,  Associations, 
Conferences,  Presbyteries,  Synods,  General  Assembly.  Its 
missionaries  come  from  these,  and  must  receive  ordination 
from  them,  and  look  to  them  for  an  authoritative  guardianship 


EELATIONS  TO   ECCLESIASTICAL  BODIES.  89 

of  their  ministerial  faithfulness.  To  a  great  extent,  moreover, 
these  bodies  are  an  ecclesiastical  embodiment  of  the  very 
people  who  sustain  the  missions;  and  since  the  Board  lives  on 
the  popular  Christian  favor,  the  confidence  of  these  bodies  is 
indispensable  to  it.  From  the  beginning,  therefore,  the  Board 
has  shown  great  deference  to  the  ecclesiastical  bodies ;  and  it 
has  had  little  reason  to  complain  of  a  want  of  candor,  kind- 
ness, and  cooperation  on  their  part. 

1.  It  has  had,  from  the  outset,  a  positive  connection  with  eccle- 
siastical denominations  by  the  very  elements  of  its  existence. 
The  original  members  belonged  to  the  Congregational  body,  and 
at  the  first  meeting  after  their  incorporation,  elected  eight  of  the 
more  distinguished  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.    The 
Board  thus  became  as  really  Presbyterian  as  before  this  it  was 
Congregational.     In  the  following  year,  a  member  was  elected 
from  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  along  with  two  more 
from  the  Congregational.     In  1816,  one  was  elected  from  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  and  five  others  within  the  next  ten 
years.     The  membership  determined,  of  course,  the  character 
of  the  institution,  and  connected  it  with  these  denominations. 
Of  the  present  members,  one  hundred  and  five  are  Congrega- 
tionalists,  eighty-one  are  Presbyterians  connected  with  the  New 
School  Church,  seventeen  are  Presbyterians  connected  witli  the 
Old  School  Church,  nine  are  members  of  the  Protestant  Re-: 
formed  Dutch  Church,  and  two  belong  to  the  Reformed  Ger- 
man Church. 

2.  The  Board  has  been  fully  and  formally  recognized  by  the 
ecclesiastical  bodies  of  these  several  denominations,  (unless 
the  last  be  an   exception,)   as   a   proper   foreign  missionary 
agency  for  their  churches.     It  is  not  necessary  to  speak  again 
of  its  formation  by  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts ; 
of  the  concurrence  in  this  act  by  the  General  Association  of 
Connecticut ;  of  the  approval  of  its  legal  incorporation  by  the 
Massachusetts  Association ;  of  the  ordination  and  recognition 
of  its  first  missionaries  by  Congregational  churches  at  Salem ; 

12 


90  THE   BOARD. 

nor  of  the  affectionate  and  confiding  letter  received  from  the 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly  in  the  same  year.  But  other 
kindred  facts  should  be  recorded. 

(1.)  A  very  large  portion  of  the  donations  received  by  the 
Board  are  more  or  less  the  result  of  church  action.  The 
number  of  churches  and  congregations  in  New  England,  from 
which  donations  were  acknowledged  as  the  result  of  associated 
effort  in  the  year  1839,  was  eight  hundred  and  sixty-nine ; 
and  the  number  in  the  whole  country,  including  cooperating 
societies,  doubtless  exceeded  two  thousand.  Contributions 
were  received,  also,  from  not  less  than  a  thousand  monthly 
concert  meetings.  The  Board  has  been  recognized  and  ac- 
credited as  an  agent  in  the  work  of  foreign  missions  by  res- 
olutions and  other  formal  acts  of  General  Associations,  Syn- 
ods, and  General  Assemblies. 

(2.)  The  amalgamation  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  with  the  Board,  in  the  year  1825,  gave  occasion  for  a 
formal  and  emphatic  recognition  of  the  Board  by  the  General 
Assembly.  That  Society  was  formed  in  New  jTork  City  in  the 
year  1817,  by  a  joint  committee  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  and  the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church.  The  sphere  of  the  Society's  labors  was 
among  the  North  American  Indians  ;  and  in  August,  _1825,  it 
.had  under  its  care  ten  jnissionary  stations,  seven  ordained 
missionaries,  and  twenty  male  and  thirty  female  assistants. 
In  that  year,  a  committee  from  the  Society  attended  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Board  at  Northampton,  with  proposals 
for  an  amalgamation  with  the  Board.  A  joint  committee 
reported  in  favor  of  the  union,  and  the  following  reasons  were 
assigned  by  the  commissioners  from  the  Society  :  — 

"  That  the  most  friendly  relations  and  feelings  now  exist 
between  the  General  Assembly  and  the  Synods,  and  the 
Orthodox  Associations  of  New  England. 

"  That  the  spirit  of  controversy  having  subsided,  the  intelli- 
gent and  candid  of  the  Christian  public  are  all  satisfied  that 


RELATIONS   TO   ECCLESIASTICAL  BODIES.  91 

the  same  gospel  which  is  preached  in  the  Middle,  and  Southern, 
and  Western  States,  is  preached  also  in  the  Eastern  States. 

"  That  the  missionaries  of  both  societies  preach  precisely 
the  same  gospel  to  the  heathen  ;  and  that  the  same  regulations 
are  adopted  by  both  in  the  management  of  missions. 

"  That  both  derive  much  of  their  funds  from  the  same 
churches  and  individuals ;  that  the  great  body  of  Christians 
do  not  perceive  or  make  any  distinction  between  the  two 
institutions,  and  consequently  do  not  perceive  any  necessity 
for  two,  and  regret  the  existence  of  two ;  and  that  many 
churches  and  individuals,  unwilling  to  evince  a  preference  for 
either,  are  thus  prevented  from  acting  promptly,  and  from 
contributing  liberally  to  either.  .  • 

"  That  both  societies  are  evidently  embarrassed  and 
cramped,  through  the  fear  of  collision  and  difficulty ;  and 
that  the  agents  of  both  are  discouraged,  and  limited  in  their 
operations  by  the  same  apprehension. 

"  That  the  objects,  principles,  and  operations  of  both  are  so 
entirely  similar,  that  there  c^an  be  no  good  reason  assigned  for 
maintaining  two. 

"  That  the  claims  upon  the  churches  are  becoming  so 
numerous  and  frequent,  and  the  necessities  of  the  destitute  so 
urgent,  that  all  institutions  are  sacredly  bound  to  observe  the 
most  rigid  economy  ;  and  that  by  the  union,  much  that  is  now 
expended  for  the  support  of  offices,  officers,  agents,  &c.,  will 
be  saved  for  the  general  objects  of  the  societies. 

"  And,  lastly,  that  the  prevailing  feeling  in  the  churches 
demands  a  union  between  the  two  societies,  and  will  event- 
ually make  it  unavoidably  necessary." 

The  union  agreed  upon  at  this  meeting  was  afterward 
approved  by  the  General  Assembly  and  the  General  Synod ; 
and  the  former,  by  a  formal  vote,  commended  the  Board  to 
the  favorable  and  Christian  support  of  the  churches  and 
people  under  its  care.  The  General  Synod  was  not  ready  for 
such  a  commendation  at  that  time. 

(3.)  In  1831,  the  General  Assembly  appointed  commis- 
sioners to  confer  with  the  Board  relative  to  measures  best 


92  THE   BOARD. 

adapted  to  enlist  the  energies  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
more  extensively  in  the  cause  of  missions  to  the  heathen.  A 
conference  was  held  with  the  Board  in  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year.  These  commissioners  reported  to  the  General 
Assembly  that,  in  their  judgment,  the  Board  was  a  national 
institution,  belonging  as  much  to  one  section  of  the  country 
as  to  another;  that  it  fully  represented  the  Presbyterian, 
Reformed  Dutch,  and  Congregational  Churches,  and  sustained 
the  same  relation  to  each ;  that  its  proceedings  had  been  in 
strict  accordance  with  this  relation  ;  that  the  Board,  its  Pru- 
dential Committee,  and  its  missionaries,  were  under  very  high 
responsibility  to  the  three  denominations  and  to  the  Christian 
public — a  responsibility  peculiarly  adapted  to  insure  the  purity 
and  efficiency  of  the  whole  system  ;  that  in  raising  funds  and 
in  other  proceedings  at  home,  the  various  ecclesiastical  habits 
of  the  people  had  been,  and  there  was  every  reason  to  feel 
assured  would  be,  regarded ;  that  it  was  wholly  inexpedient 
to  attempt  the  formation  of  any  other  distinct  organization 
within  the  three  denominations  for  conducting  foreign  mis- 
sions, at  least  until  the  concern  should  become  too  extensive 
and  complicated  (if  that  should  ever  be)  for  management  by 
one  institution  ;  and  that  it  was  of  the  highest  importance  to 
their  own  spiritual  prosperity,  and  to  the  extension  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom  on  earth,  that  the  ecclesiastical  bodies 
and  the  individual  churches  in  these  connections  should  give 
the  Board  their  cordial,  united,  and  vigorous  support. 

(4.)  The  following  year,  a  committee  from  the  General  Syn- 
od of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  attended  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Board  at  New  York,  and  proposed  that 
a  plan  be  arranged  for  the  unrestricted  action  of  that  Church 
through  the  Board.  Drs.  Miller  and  Edwards,  Judge  Platt, 
Mr.  Lewis,  and  Mr.  Anderson  (now  the  only  survivor)  were 
appointed  a  committee  of  conference.  At  that  time,  there  were 
six  members  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  connected  with 
the  corporation  of  the  Board,  and  two  of  its  members  were  in 
the  missions  under  the  care  of  the  Board.  From  the  year 
1816,  that  Church  had  stood  in  precisely  the  same  relation 


RELATIONS  TO   ECCLESIASTICAL  BODIES.  93 

to  the  Board  as  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  Churches, 
and  perhaps  needed  only  a  more  explicit  understanding  of 
the  subject.  Accordingly  the  report  of  the  joint  committee 
was  chiefly  occupied  with  explanatory  statements.  Having 
been  drawn  up  by  the  writer  of  this,  and  not  by  the  venera- 
ble chairman,  he  may  be  allowed  to  say,  that  it  was  not  with 
sufficient  forethought  of  consequences.  For  being  understood 
by  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  to  provide  expressly  for  ex- 
tending the  distinctive  organization  and  forms  of  the  Church 
into  heathen  lands,  that  idea  took  such  strong  hold  as  to  im- 
pair the  value  of  the  connection.  Its  effect  was  mainly  to 
concentrate  the  feeling,  prayers,  and  efforts  of  that  Church 
upon  the  mission  or  missions  composed  exclusively  of  her  sons. 
In  the  compact  of  1832,  as  understood  and  carried  out  in  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  there  was  another  infelicity.  The 
body  responsible  for  the  agencies  at  home  and  for  procuring 
funds  and  missionaries,  was  not  the  body  which  appointed  and 
directed  the  missionaries  and  was  held  responsible  for  the  mis- 
sions. The  agencies  were  exclusively  managed  by  a  Board  of 
Missions  within  the  Church.  In  August,  1845,  the  Prudential 
Committee  adopted  a  minute  which  was  designed  to  be  sent  to 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church, 
unless  the  members  of  that  Church  present  at  the  next  annual 
meeting  of  the  Board  should  advise  to  the  contrary.  As  it  is 
important  that  the  working  of  such  peculiar  relations  in  for- 
eign missions  should  be  understood,  a  few  extracts  are  copied 
from  the  minute.  They  are  as  follows :  — 

"  In  the  opinion  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  it  would  be 
favorable  to  the  interests  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  were  the 
agencies  for  foreign  missions  in  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church 
committed  to  the  Prudential  Committee,  just  as  they  are  in 
respect  to  the  churches  in  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
denominations,  which  furnish  missionaries  and  funds  for  the 
system  of  missions  under  the  care  of  the  Board ;  but  if  that 
can  not  be,  then  it  would  be  advisable  to  request  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  to  assume  the  direction  of  the  missionaries  from 
that  Church  in  the  Borneo  and  Amoy  missions ;  with  the 


94  THE   BOARD. 

imderstanding  that  it  shall  receive  every  facility  for  so  doing 
within  the  power  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  the  Secreta- 
ries, and  the  Treasurer  of  the  Board. 

"  In  making  this  movement  for  bringing  the  missions  sent 
out  from  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  and  for  the  nine  years 
past  under  the  care  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  into  connec- 
tion with  a  more  effective  system  of  support,  the  Committee 
are  happy  to  say,  that  their  relations  with  their  brethren  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  have  ever  been  most  happy ;  while 
the  defect  they  desire  to  see  remedied  is  not  one  that  can  be 
avoided  on  the  present  system.  If  the  home  and  foreign  depart- 
ments of  the  enterprise  are  committed  to  two  entirely  distinct 
Boards,  it  is  inevitable  that  the  missions  will  suffer  from  inad- 
equate reinforcements,  however  well  the  different  Boards  are 
constituted,  and  however  disposed  to  do  their  duty.  The 
entire  responsibility  must  needs  rest  on  one  and  the  same  body. 

"  It  might  seem  natural,  after  having  gone  through  the  night 
of  adversity  and  trial  which  God  usually  sees  fit  to  appoint  to 
missions  at  their  outset,  and  after  the  daystar  has  arisen  at 
least  upon  a  part  of  the  enterprise,  that  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee should  feel  some  unwillingness  to  have  the  missions  go 
into  other  hands.  It  would  not  be  strange  if  the  Committee 
had  some  feeling  of  this  sort.  But  they  see  conclusive  reasons 
against  proceeding  on  the  present  arrangement,  and  such  dif- 
ficulties may  be  found  in  the  way  of  transferring  the  care  of 
the  agencies  for  foreign  missions  in  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church 
to  the  Board,  that  it  shall  be  better  to  transfer  the  missions  to 
that  Church  than  to  attempt  it." 

After  some  conference  and  correspondence,  the  Prudential 
Committee  resolved,  but  not  until  December,  that  it  was  not 
then  advisable  to  take  any  further  action  in  the  case.  Two 
years  later,  one  of  the  Secretaries  had  a  personal  Confer- 
ence with  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed 
J3utch  Church,  on  this  and  other  points.  In  the  year  1851,  a 
letter  was  addressed  to  the  General  Synod  of  that  Church,  stat- 
ing the  difficulty  of  obtaining  missionaries.  The  following 
extracts  from  that  letter  have  an  historical  importance :  — 


RELATIONS   TO   ECCLESIASTICAL  BODIES.  95 

"  If  the  cause  of  this  lack  of  missionaries  be  in  the  nature 
of  the  connection  existing  between  the  General  Synod  and  the 
Board,  while  we  greatly  value  our  relations  to  our  brethren  of 
the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  we  should  still  wish  the  cause 
of  so  great  an  evil  removed. 

"  It  must  be  obvious  to  the  Synod,  however,  that  the  plan  of 
operation,  as  agreed  upon  by  the  joint  committee  nineteen 
years  ago,  has  been  but  partially  carried  into  effect.  Upon 
the  going  forth  of  the  mission  to  Netherlands  India,  nearly  the 
whole  attention  and  interest  of  the  Church  appeared  to  concen- 
trate upon  it.  It  became  the  mission  of  the  Church ;  and  after 
the  Amoy  mission  was  commenced,  the  two  missions  were  re- 
garded, as  a  proper  and  complete  exponent  and  representative 
of  the  influence  of  Reformed  Dutch  funds  and  missionaries  in 
heathen  lands.  The  students  for  the  ministry,  and  the  young 
ministers  in  the  Church,  when  pressed  with  the  duty  of  becom- 
ing missionaries,  have  felt  themselves  shut  up  to  these  two 
missions.  The  appeals  for  new  missionaries  have  necessarily 
been  based  upon  facts  belonging  to  these  missions. 

"  But  this  was  not  in  accordance  with  the  joint  report  form- 
ing the  basis  of  our  union  and  cooperation.  The  report  was 
designed  to  connect  the  missionary  spirit  and  movement  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  with  the  whole  missionary  enterprise 
under  the  care  of  the  American  Board ;  and  by  interesting 
Christian  people  in  the  whole,  to  secure  their  greater  interest 
in  the  several  parts  ;  and  especially  in  those  portions  of  the 
system,  those  missions  which,  because  they  were  new,  for  that 
very  reason  were  but  partially  developed,  and  had  little  in 
themselves,  excepting  their  necessities,  to  awaken  an  interest. 
We  have  long  felt,  and  we  feel  it  more  and  more,  that  the 
former  part  of  this  plan  is  important,  if  not  essential,  to  the 
success  of  the  latter ;  that  the  young  men,  especially,  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  should  realize  that  they  are  free  to 
direct  their  attention  to  any  part  of  the  unevangelized  world 
occupied  by  the  missions  under  the  care  of  the  American 
Board  —  to  Western .  Asia,  Africa,  India,  Polynesia,  and  the 
Indian  tribes,  as  well  as  to  Borneo  and  China.  Thus  will  they 


96  THE   BOARD. 

come  under  a  broad  and  diversified  system  of  missions,  in  dif- 
ferent quarters  of  the  world,  in  varied  climates,  religions,  lan- 
guages, and  civilizations,  and  some  of  the  missions  ripening 
already  to  harvest.  Thus  the  motive  power  will  be  greatly 
increased  ;  and  there  is  stronger  probability,  under  the  ordi- 
nary ministrations  and  callings  of  the  Spirit,  that  the  young 
heralds  of  the  cross  will  be  drawn  into  a  favorable  contempla- 
tion of  the  subject,  and  be  led  to  a  hearty  self-consecration  to 
the  cause  and  the  work  of  foreign  missions.  And  thus  we  may 
expect  that  a  greater  number  will  be  found  ready  to  labor  in 
the  service  of  Christ  at  Amoy  and  in  Borneo.  This  is  the  sort 
of  scattering  in  missions  which  is  sure  to  increase ;  and  greatly 
have  we  desired  to  feel  more  freedom  to  try  the  effect  of  this 
plan  upon  the  young  men  in  the  seminary  at  New  Brunswick, 
and  upon  the  younger  ministers,  and  to  see  it  every  where  in 
full  experiment  throughout  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church.  In- 
deed, we  almost  despair  of  seeing  the  Borneo  mission  revived, 
as  we  think  it  should  be,  and  the  Amoy  mission  speedily  en- 
larged, and  a  new  mission  established  in  India  by  missionaries 
from  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  —  at  least  through  the 
agency  of  the  American  Board,  —  unless  the  prayers  and  efforts 
of  the  ministers  and  members  of  the  Church  are  directed  to  a 
wider  and  more  varied  field  than  is  presented  by  these  missions 
alone." 

The  Synod,  in  their  reply,  after  renewing  their  assurance  of 
unabated  confidence  in  the  Board,  stated  that  they  regarded 
the  manner  in  which  the  missionary  operations  had  been  con- 
ducted hitherto,  as  a  proper  interpretation  of  the  wishes  of  the 
Church  in  respect  to  the  future,  and  that  they  deemed  it  their 
duty  to  sustain  their  own  distinctive  missions. 

All  parties  became  at  length  convinced,  that  the  interests  of 
the  missionary  cause  would  be  promoted  by  a  different  arrange- 
ment. As  a  consequence  of  this,  the  General  Synod  adopted 
the  following  resolutions  in  the  year  1857  :  — 

"1.  That,  considering  the  growth  of  our  missions  abroad  ; 
the  duty  of  the  Church,  in  her  distinctive  capacity  as  such,  to 
take  charge  of  these  missions ;  the  growing  sentiment  among 


RELATIONS   TO   ECCLESIASTICAL   BODIES.  97 

our  people  in  favor  of  such  a  course  ;  and  the  hopeful  prospect 
that  this  action  will  tend  to  call  out  far  more  largely  and 
promptly  the  resources  of  our  denomination,  —  we  are  satisfied 
that  the  time  has  come  to  dissolve  the  union  with  the  Ameri- 
can Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and  hence- 
forth conduct  our  operations  among  the  heathen  through  the 
exclusive  agency  of  our  own  Board. 

"  2.  That  the  intimate  relation  which  has  existed  for  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  between  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch 
Church  and  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  in  the  prosecution  of  this  work,  has  confirmed  our 
confidence  in  the  wisdom,  the  integrity,  and  catholic  spirit  of 
that  great  and  noble  institution ;  nor  shall  we  ever  cease  to 
feel  a  lively  interest  in  the  growth  of  its  operations  and  the 
success  of  its  plans. 

"  3.  That,  in  dissolving  the  pleasant  and  useful  connection 
we  have  maintained  with  the  officers  and  members  of  that 
Board  for  the  last  twenty-five  years,  we  are  not  influenced  by 
any  dissatisfaction  with  their  modes  of  action,  or  any  want  of 
fidelity  on  their  part  to  the  terms  of  -this  connection. 

"  4.  That  we  take  pleasure  in  expressing  to  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  our  grateful 
sense  of  the  benefits  derived  from  their  experience,  foresight, 
and  enlarged  views,  and  of  the  uniform  Christian  kindness  and 
courtesy  which  have  marked  their  intercourse  with  our  Board. 

"  5.  That  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  now  composed  of 
fifteen  members,  be  increased  to  twenty-four,  the  additional 
members  to  be  chosen  by  the  Board  itself;  that  they  be,  and 
hereby  are,  empowered  to  arrange  with  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  the  terms  of  an  amica- 
ble separation,  and  to  assume  the  management  and  control  of 
the  missions  in  Arcot  and  Amoy ;  and  that  they  be  authorized 
and  directed  to  employ  all  suitable  means,  such  as  the  use  of 
the  press,  the  appointment  of  agents,  the  holding  of  mission- 
ary conventions  and  the  like,  for  the  purpose  of  developing  the 
power  and  exciting  the  interest  of  our  churches  in  the  great 
work  of  evangelizing  the  world." 

13  J 


98  THE  BOARD. 

These  resolutions  being  submitted  to  the  American  Board 
the  same  year,  at  its  meeting  in  Providence,  the  Board  re- 
sponded in  the  resolutions  which  follow :  — 

"  1.  That,  in  accordance  with  the  proposal  received  from 
the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  the  Board 
assents  to  a  dissolution  of  the  compact,  for  the  prosecution  of 
foreign  missions,  which  was  formed  with  that  Synod  in  the 
year  1832. 

zr2T7That  the  appointment  of  a  missionary  being  a  personal 
matter,  involving  a  mutual  contract  and  obligation  between 
the  missionary  and  the  Board,  therefore,  should  the  mission- 
aries of  the  Amoy  and  Arcot  missions,  formed  and  prosecuted 
on  the  basis  of  this  compact,  request  a  release  from  their  con- 
nection with  the  Board,  the  Prudential  Committee  is  instructed 
to  grant  such  a  release  ;  and  also  to  transfer  the  property  in 
those  missions  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church. 

"  3.  That  all  financial  questions,  growing  out  of  this  busi- 
ness, be  referred,  for  mutual  adjustment,  to  the  Prudential 
Committee  and  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church. 

"  4.  That  in  assenting  to  a  dissolution  of  this  compact,  now 
of  twenty-five  years'  duration,  the  Board  gratefully  acknowl- 
edges the  expressions  of  respect,  esteem,  and  confidence  which 
are  embodied  in  the  resolutions  of  the  General  Synod ;  and  it 
would  alsa  bear  testimony  to  the  Christian  kindness  and 
urbanity  which  have  uniformly  and  eminently  characterized 
the  pastors  and  members  of  that  Church,  and  especially  the 
officers  of  its  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  in  their  intercourse 
with  the  officers  and  agents  of  this  Board,  and  would  give 
assurance  of  our  earnest  hope  and  prayer,  that  the  results  of 
the  step  now  taken  may  equal  the  highest  expectations  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  the  promotion  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom." 

(5.)  Notwithstanding  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1831  and  1832,  there  were  por- 
tions of  that  Church  which  did  not  act  cordially  through  the 


EELATIONS   TO   ECCLESIASTICAL  BODIES.  99 

Board.  The  "Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society  was  formed 
by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  as  early  as  1831.  After  the  divis- 
ion of  the  Presbyterian  Church  into  two  .bodies,  called  Old 
School  and  New  School,  in  183L  the  Old  School  Assembly 
adopted  that  Society,  under  the  name  of  The  Board  of  For- 
eign Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  Old  School 
churches,  however,  withdrew  their  support  so  gradually  from 
the  Board,  as  not  to  occasion  any  serious  embarrassment  in 
the  support  of  its  missions.  None  of  the  Presbyterian  mis- 
sionaries withdrew  from  the  Board  in  consequence  of  these 
changes ;  and  the  churches  of  the  New  School  continued  their 
relations  and  patronage  as  before. 

(6.)  In  accordance  with  a  recommendation  from  the  Special 
Committee  on  the  Report  of  the  Deputation  to  India,  in  1856, 
the  Board  gave  a  more  definite  expression  to  its  relations  to 
ecclesiastical  bodies,  in  the  following  resolution :  — 

That,  on  the  whole  subject  of  ecclesiastical  relations  and 
organizations,  the  principle  of  the  Board  is  that  of  entire 
non-intervention  on  the  part  of  the  Board  and  its  officers ; 
that  missionaries  are  free  to  organize  themselves  into,  or  to 
connect  themselves  with,  such  ecclesiastical  bodies  or  churches 
as  they  may  choose,  either  on  missionary  ground  or  in  this 
country ;  and  that  in  organizing  churches,  provided  the  prin- 
ciples held  in  common  by  the  constituencies  of  this  Board  be 
not  violated,  the  persons  to  be  thus  organized  are  free  to 
adopt  such  forms  of  organization  as  they  may  prefer. 

At  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1859,  the  General  Assembly 
proposed,  through  a  committee,  that  the  appointments  of 
missionaries  be  so  disposed,  whenever  it  is  wise  and  practicable, 
as  to  facilitate  the  formation  of  foreign  presbyteries.  The 
report  of  a  committee  of  conference,  in  reply  to  this  and  other 
propositions,  was  not  presented  to  the  Board  until  the  last 
morning  of  the  session ;  and  it  was  afterward  found  by  the 
Prudential  Committee,  that  the  portion  which  treated  of  the 
designation  of  missionaries,  and  the  formation  of  foreign  pres- 
byteries, was  somewhat  indeterminate,  and  capable  of  a  more 
or  less  enlarged  application.  They  accordingly  signified  their 


100  THE   BOARD. 

embarrassment  to  the  Board  at  its  fiftieth  meeting,  and  sug- 
gested the  expediency  of  further  conference  with  the  General 
Assembly.  The  committee  to  whom  this  subject  was  referred 
unanimously  reported,  through  Dr.  Poor,  that  such  conference 
was  not  called  for ;  "  it  being  their  firm  belief,  that  the  Pru- 
dential Committee,  while  exercising  its  discretion  in  the 
appointing  of  missionaries,  in  view  of  all  circumstances,  as 
they  may  occur,  and  acting  on  the  clearly-declared  principle 
of  non-intervention  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  will  be  able  to 
carry  out  the  full  intent  of  the  phrase  in  question,  to  the  satis- 
faction of  all  parties  concerned." 

From  all  that  has  been  said  concerning  the  constitution  and 
ecclesiastical  relations  of  the  Board,  it  must  be  obvious  that 
it  is  not  an  ecclesiastical  body.  This  is  true,  notwithstanding 
its  origin ;  notwithstanding  its  members  are  all  in  the  Chris- 
tian church ;  notwithstanding  relations  it  may  have  formed 
with  the  general  ecclesiastical  bodies  of  the  denominations. 
Appointment  by  an  ecclesiastical  body,  responsibility  to  such  a 
body,  and  individual  relations  sustained  by  members  to  the 
churches,  are  not  of  themselves  sufficient  to  confer  ecclesiasti- 
cal powers  on  a  Missionary  Board.  The  American  Board  can 
neither  organize  churches,  nor  associations,  nor  presbyteries ; 
it  can  not  admit  members  to  the  church,  nor  excommunicate 
them ;  it  can  not  ordain  ministers  of  the  gospel,  nor  silence 
them ;  nor  can  it  transfer  them  from  one  denomination  to 
another,  nor  change  their  ecclesiastical  relations.  The  same 
is  doubtless  true  of  the  other  Missionary  Boards,  whether 
formed  by  ecclesiastical  bodies  or  otherwise.  Not  one  of  them 
possesses  ecclesiastical  powers ;  not  one  of  them,  properly 
speaking,  is  an  ecclesiastical  body.  All  are  equally  powerless, 
in  the  respects  above  mentioned,  with  the  American  Board, 
which  has  no  ecclesiastical  power  whatever. 

Hence,  if  a  missionary,  when  he  comes  under  the  direction 
of  the  Board,  is  connected  with  a  presbytery,  or  association, 
that  connection  is  not  thereby  in  the  least  affected.  There  is 
no  feature  in  the  constitution  of  the  Board  which  prevents 


RELATIONS   TO   ECCLESIASTICAL   BODIES.  101 

the  body  to  which  he  belongs  from  having  the  same  authority 
over  him  after  the  connection  has  been  formed,  as  it  had 
before ;  and  the  ecclesiastical  body  is  just  as  much  bound  to 
watch  over  him  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  to  counsel  him, 
and  to  discipline  him,  in  case  there  is  need  of  it.  And  when 
his  connection  with  that  ecclesiastical  body  ceases,  (if  it  ever 
does,)  it  can  not  be  by  any  act  of  the  Board,  but  by  a  regular 
dismission  from  his  ecclesiastical  body,  that  he  may  join  some 
other  which  has  grown  up  in  the  field  of  his  missionary  labors. 

This  is  a  beautiful  feature  in  the  existing  methods  of  con- 
ducting-foreign  missions.  For  neither  the  churches  at  home, 
nor  their  ecclesiastical  bodies,  as  such,  can  devote  the  time, 
nor  acquire  the  experience,  for  the  management  of  a  great 
system  of  missions.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  appoint  trust- 
worthy boards  of  agency,  or  else  to  recognize  existing  boards, 
for  that  purpose.  The  American  Board  has,  in  this  respect, 
been  signally  favored,  having  been  employed  by  the  churches 
for  a  long  course  of  years,  and  having  never  had  its  wisdom 
or  faithfulness  seriously  impeached. 

The  Board  takes  ordained  missionaries  and  lay  assistants 
from  the  denominations  with  all  their  ecclesiastical  relations 
upon  them ;  and  experience  has  shown  that  there  is  scope  for 
all  the  direction  necessary  on  the  part  of  the  Board,  without 
interfering  in  the  least  with  those  relations,  or  with  the  per- 
formance of  any  of  the  duties  growing  out  of  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Board  is  not,  in  the  common  ac- 
ceptation, a  voluntary  association.  A  voluntary  benevolent 
association,  in  the  strict  technical  sense,  is  one  which  any  man 
may  join  by  paying  a  certain  sum  of  money  annually.  Most 
of  our  national  societies  are  constituted  in  this  manner ;  and 
when  it  is  alleged  that  the  Board  is  otherwise  constituted,  it  is 
by  no  means  intended  to  imply  that  the  mode  .of  organization 
in  those  great  societies  does  not  combine  ample  means  of  effi- 
ciency and  security.  No  person  becomes  a  voting  member 
of  the  Board  by  merely  contributing  to  its  funds.  The  Hon- 
orary members  have  the  right  to  attend  the  meetings,  and  assist 
in  all  the  deliberations ;  and  they  do  attend,  in  far  greater 


102  THE    BOARD. 

numbers  than  the  Corporate  members,  and  render  most  val- 
uable assistance  in  the  discussions  at  the  annual  meetings. 
But  only  the  Corporate  members  vote.  Hence  the  I^oard  can 
not  properly  be  called  a  voluntary  association,  and  is  not  liable 
to  the  objections  alleged  (whether  justly  or  not)  against  such. 
At  the  same  time  it  secures  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  advantages 
claimed  for  that  class  of  associations,  as  well  as  most,  if  not 
all,  the  advantages  claimed  for  associations  created  by  ecclesi- 
astical bodies. 

,  There  has  been  no  practical  difficulty,  thus  far,  in  the  great 
ecclesiastical  machinery,  arising  from  the  Board's  operations. 
It  has  had  only  to  keep  within  its  own  peculiar  province.  Its 
responsibility  is  for  all  that  is  legitimately  involved  in  the  col- 
lecting and  use  of  funds.  This  responsibility  is  perfect,  and 
is  not  shared  with  ecclesiastical  bodies.  It  claims  not  to  be 
the  plenipotentiary  of  the  churches,  nor  to  stand  in  the  place 
of  the  churches.  Its  relations  are  to  the  donors,  as  such,  and 
to  missionaries,  as  such ;  its  responsibilities  are  to  them. 
This  of  course  involves  the  right  and  duty  of  judging  whether 
a  candidate  is  adapted  to  the  work,  and  whether  the  mission- 
ary is  faithful  to  his  engagements.  If  either  denies  a  leading 
gospel  doctrine,  as  that  Christ  is  divine,  or  that  regeneration 
is  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  that  everlasting  punishment  awaits 
the  finally  impenitent,  and  persists  in  these  errors,  and  such 
as  these,  he  may  be  adjudged  unworthy  of  support,  and  his 
connection  with  the  Board  be  dissolved,  even  though  his 
ecclesiastical  position  remain  unaffected.  The  Prudential 
Committee  have  always  exercised  the  fullest  liberty  of  judging 
as  to  the  fitness  of  candidates,  from  whatever  church,  and  of 
missionaries,  however  related,  to  receive  the  funds  placed  at 
their  disposal.  The  missionaries  have  almost  always  received 
their  appointment,  necessarily,  before  ordination,  and  even 
before  licensure.  But  in  whatever  stage  they  came,  and  from 
whatever  quarter,  in  so  momentous  and  costly  an  affair  as 
sending  preachers  of  the  gospel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  it 
was  impossible  to  take  for  granted  their  adaptation  to  the 
missionary  work ;  or  to  allow  the  determination  of  it  to  rest 


RELATIONS   TO   ECCLESIASTICAL  BODIES.  103 

with  ecclesiastical  bodies,  or  to  be  adjusted  by  the  eccle- 
siastical status.  The  Church  Missionary  Society  of  Great 
Britain,  many  years  since,  had  occasion  to  assert  the  same 
right,  as  regards  its  missionaries,  against  the  claims  of  certain 
Bishops.  The  Society  admitted,  as  unreservedly  as  the  Board 
does,  that  every  missionary  and  candidate  must  be  rectus  in 
ecclesid,  and  that  this  is  a  point  to  be  decided  by  ecclesiastical 
bodies ;  but  held  that  the  whole  question  of  the  use  of  the 
funds  was  exclusively  for  the  Society  to  determine.  It  should 
be  added,  that  from  the  first,  excepting  in  the  case  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  the  missionaries  of  this  Board  have 
had  their  designation  determined  on  purely  missionary  grounds, 
wholly  irrespective  of  their  denominational  relations. 

The  experience  of  half  a  century  shows,  that  in  this  there 
is  nothing  onerous.  All  the  missions  being  self-governing 
bodies,  the  main  responsibility  rests  with  them.  But  it  is  for 
the  Prudential  Committee  to  see  that  the  funds  go,  in  the 
highest  possible  degree,  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel. 
Both  the  missionary  and  ecclesiastical  principles  have  all 
along  worked  side  by  side  without  interference. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  FOUNDERS. 

Founders  impart  a  Character  to  their  Institutions. — Who  were  the  Founders  of  the 
Board.  —  From  different  Communities,  States,  and  Professions.  —  Presidents  of  Col- 
leges and  Professors  in  Theological  Seminaries.  —  Other  eminent  Ministers  of  the 
Gospel.  —  Eminent  Civilians. 

As  every  great  enterprise  takes  its  complexion,  more  or  less, 
from  the  character  of  its  originators,  so  the  almost  unexampled 
prosperity  that  has  attended  the  American  Board,  no  doubt 
had  its  seminal  principle  in  the  eminently  enlightened,  com- 
prehensive, and  evangelical  views  of  its  founders ;  that  is,  of 
the  twenty-six  corporate  members  of  whom  it  was  constituted 
in  1813,  when  it  assumed  its  national  character.  These  men 
were  all  among  the  lights  of  their  generation ;  and  one  notice- 
able circumstance  in  connection  with  the  body  is,  that  it  had 
in  it  a  representation  of  the  nobility,  not  only  from  several  dif- 
ferent Christian  communions,  but  from  different  States,  pro- 
fessions, and  walks  of  honorable  usefulness ;  as  if  to  stamp  its 
very  beginning  with  the  most  exalted  type  of  both  wisdom  and 
liberality.  It  is  fitting  that,  in  such  a  connection  as  this,  due 
honor  should  be  rendered  to  these  illustrious  men  ;  though  our 
limits  will  allow  us  to  notice  them  in  only  the  most  general 
manner.  It  may  be  most  satisfactory  to  contemplate  them  in 
the  different  classes  or  groups  into  which  they  naturally  range 
themselves.  We  find  here  presidents  of  colleges  and  profess- 
ors in  theological  seminaries,  other  distinguished  ministers  of 
the  gospel,  and  eminent  civilians  occupying  various  stations 
of  public  usefulness.  We  will  bestow  a  few  words  upon  each 
of  them  in  the  order  of  their  birth. 

(104) 


THE  FOUNDERS.  105 

PRESIDENTS  OP  COLLEGES   AND   PROFESSORS   IN  THEOLOGICAL 

SEMINARIES. 

First  on  the  list  comes  TIMOTHY  DWIGHT.  He  was  born  in 
Northampton,  Mass.,  in  1752,  —  a  maternal  grandson  of  the 
great  Edwards  ;  exhibited  in  his  early  years  a  degree  of  intel- 
lectual precocity  almost  unparalleled ;  was  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  1774,  after  which  he  taught  a  grammar  school  in 
New  Haven,  and  then  was  for  some  time  a  tutor  in  the  college  ; 
was  a  chaplain  in  the  army  of  the  revolution  for  about  a  year, 
commencing  shortly  after  he  was  licensed  to  preach ;  spent 
several  years  subsequently  in  his  native  place,  dividing  his 
time  between  preaching  the  gospel,  working  on  a  farm,  con- 
ducting a  school  of  great  celebrity,  and  serving  the  State  in 
the  capacity  of  a  legislator ;  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational church  in  Greenfield,  Conn.,  in  1783,  and  remained 
there,  in  the  double  capacity  of  a  minister  and  the  head  of  a 
most  flourishing  academy,  until  1795,  when  he  was  transferred 
to  the  presidency  of  Yale  College ;  which  office,  in  connection 
with  that  of  professor  of  divinity,  he  held  with  almost  unri- 
valed popularity  till  the  beginning  of  1817,  when  he  was 
summoned  to  his  reward.  President  Dwight  had  a  most 
attractive  and  impressive  exterior  —  his  form  was  erect  and 
stately ;  his  face  finely  formed,  and  his  eye  and  whole  expres- 
sion kindling  with  animation  and  intelligence,  and  his  move- 
ments the  very  perfection  of  grace  and  dignity.  His  mind 
was  at  once  profound  and  brilliant,  logical  and  imaginative ; 
his  memory  was  a  vast  and  well-ordered  storehouse,  that  suf- 
fered nothing  to  escape  from  it.  In  the  pulpit  he  showed  him- 
self equally  at  home  in  the  heights  and  in  the  depths :  there 
was  a  majesty,  a  comprehensiveness,  and  yet  a  simplicity,  in 
his  presentation  of  Scripture  truth,  that  left  it  at  no  one's  op- 
tion whether  or  not  to  listen  ;  and  there  was  a  distinctness  of 
utterance,  and  general  ease,  freedom,  and  impressiveness  of 
manner,  that  formed  an  appropriate  channel  for  his  eloquent 
thoughts  and  expressions.  As  a  teacher,  the  vast  fertility  of 
his  mind,  and  his  almost  endlessly  diversified  stores  of  knowl- 
14 


106  THE   BOARD. 

edge,  combined  with  his  graceful  facility  of  communication, 
gave  him  a  prominence  which  few  of  his  cotemporaries  could 
claim ;  while,  as  the  presiding  officer  of  the  college,  he  was  a 
model  of  thoughtfulness,  dignity,  firmness,  and  efficiency.  As 
an  author,  he  is  quite  voluminous ;  and  his  System  of  Theol- 
ogy, especially,  is  known  and  admired  wherever  the  English 
language  is  read.  There  are  not  a  few  still  living,  who  will 
show  the  estimation  in  which  they  hold  him  by  saying,  "  Take 
him  all  in  all,  we  do  not  expect  ever  to  look  upon  his  like  again." 

Next  comes  the  venerable  ASHBEL  GREEN,  another  honored 
name,  which  the  Church  will  never  suffer  to  die.  He  was  a 
native  of  New  Jersey,  and  the  son  of  an  honored  Presbyterian 
minister;  was  graduated  at  Princeton  College  in  1783,  and 
afterward  served  his  Alma  Mater  both  as  tutor  and  as  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy ;  commenced 
preaching  in  1786,  and  the  next  year  was  settled  as  a  colleague 
of  the  venerable  Dr.  Sproat,  of  Philadelphia ;  was  for  several 
years  a  chaplain  to  Congress,  and  in  intimate  relations  with 
General  Washington  ;  had  much  to  do  in  organizing  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  on  its  present  basis,  as  well  as  in  establishing 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton  ;  accepted  a  call  to  the 
presidency  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  in  1812,  and  contin- 
ued in  the  faithful  discharge  of  its  duties  until  1822,  when  he 
resigned  the  office  and  returned  to  Philadelphia  to  spend  his 
remaining  days  ;  was  occupied  during  his  latter  years  in 
preaching  up  to  the  full  measure  of  his  ability,  in  writing  for 
the  press,  especially  in  conducting  a  religious  periodical,  and 
in  helping  forward  all  the  good  objects  that  came  within  the 
range  of  his  influence ;  and  closed  his  eventful  life,  after  a 
somewhat  protracted  period  of  decline,  in  May,  1848,  when 
he  had  nearly  completed  his  eighty-sixth  year.  Dr.  Green  was 
a  man  of  commanding  presence  and  intellect.  He  had  a  large 
frame,  a  fine,  intellectual  head,  an  earnest  and  rather  stern 
expression  of  countenance,  and,  especially  toward  strangers,  a 
somewhat  stately  and  distant  manner.  His  mind  was  logical 
and  discriminating,  his  taste  highly  cultivated,  and  his  knowl- 


THE  FOUNDERS.  107 

edge  extensive  and  varied.  His  discourses  in  the  pulpit  were 
always  luminous  and  instructive,  and  delivered  in  an  impres- 
sive manner,  though  his  elocution  was  rather  forcible  than 
graceful.  He  had  great  energy  and  strength  of  purpose,  while 
yet  he  was  most  conscientious  in  all  his  movements.  Some 
things  about  him,  especially  in  his  more  public  demonstrations, 
seemed  rugged  and  severe  ;  but  those  who  knew  him  well,  knew 
that  there  was  a  warm  and  tender  heart  beating  in  his  bosom. 
He  was  an  eminently  devout  man,  and  his  habit  of  devotion 
survived  almost  the  entire  wreck  of  his  mental  faculties.  He 
had  long  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  and  few  had  so  much  to  do  as  he  in  the  mold- 
ing of  its  destinies. 

The  third  on  our  list  of  worthies  is  JAMES  RICHARDS.  He 
was  born  in  New  Canaan,  Conn.,  in  1767  ;  evinced  at  an  early 
period  much  more  than  ordinary  intellectual  tastes,  but  was 
obliged  by  his  straitened  circumstances  to  learn  a  trade ;  after 
struggling  with  various  difficulties,  became  a  member  of  Yale 
College  in  1789,  but  was  compelled  by  his  poverty  to  withdraw 
at  the  close  of  the  Freshman  year ;  engaged  for  a  while  as  a 
teacher,  and  then  went  to  Greenfield  arid  prosecuted  both  his 
academical  and  theological  course  under  Dr.  D wight;  com- 
menced preaching  in  1793,  and  was  settled  as  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  in  Morristown,  N.  J.,  in  May,  1797;  re- 
signed his  charge  there,  and  became  pastor  of  the  first  Presby- 
terian church  in  Newark,  as  successor  to  Dr.  Griffin,  in  1809  ; 
accepted  a  call  to  the  professorship  of  theology  in  the  Auburn 
Theological  Seminary  in  1823,  where  he  remained,  greatly 
honored  and  beloved,  until  August,  1843,  when  he  closed  his 
earthly  career.  Dr.  Richards  was  every  way  a  fine  specimen 
of  a  man.  He  was  upwards  of  six  feet  in  height,  well  propor- 
tioned, with  a  countenance  indicative  of  fine  intellectual 
powers,  and  a  most  genial  and  kindly  spirit.  And  his  counte- 
nance was  a  faithful  index  to  his  character.  He  had  a  mind 
of  great  comprehensiveness  and  discrimination,  that  delighted 
in  tracing  every  thing  back  to  first  principles,  and  especially 


108  THE  BOARD. 

hi  unraveling  the  intricacies  of  error.  He  was  distinguished 
for  nothing  more  than  for  practical  wisdom ;  he  saw,  as  if  by  in- 
tuition, the  right  and  wrong  of  every  subject  that  was  presented 
to  him,  in  connection  with  practical  life ;  and  hence,  in  all 
difficult  and  embarrassed  circumstances,  especially  in  public 
bodies,  his  presence  was  regarded  as  an  element  of  safety.  In 
the  pulpit  his  manner  was  characterized  by  great  solemnity 
and  earnestness ;  and  his  discourses  were  full  of  well-digested 
evangelical  thought,  expressed  in  clear,  forcible,  simple  lan- 
guage. As  a  professor  of  theology,  he  was  eminently  success- 
ful in  conveying  to  the  minds  of  his  pupils  the  exact  shade  of 
thought  as  it  existed  in  his  own  mind,  and,  while  he  encour- 
aged them  to  independent  thinking,  he  discouraged  them,  both 
by  precept  and  example,  from  rushing  into  wild  extremes.  He 
adorned  every  relation  that  he  sustained.  He  lived  emphat- 
ically to  bless  the  Church,  and  the  Church  has  already  testified 
her  gratitude  for  his  services  by  embalming  his  memory. 

The  name  of  SAMUEL  MILLER  (another  of  this  honored 
group)  will  awaken  grateful  and  tender  emotions  in  many 
hearts.  His  father  before  him,  though  of  New  England  ori- 
gin, was  an  excellent  Presbyterian  minister  in  Delaware  ;  and 
there  the  son  was  born,  in  the  year  1769.  He  was  graduated 
honorably  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1789  ;  studied 
theology  under  the  direction  partly  of  his  father,  and  partly 
of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Nisbet,  of  Dickinson  College ;  was  or- 
dained and  installed  in  June,  1793,  as  colleague  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York ;  was  transferred  to 
Princeton,  as  professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  and  church 
government  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  in  1813  ;  and  after  a 
long  course  of  honorable  usefulness  in  that  relation,  died  in 
January,  1850.  What  first  impressed  one  on  meeting  Dr. 
Miller,  was  his  uncommonly  attractive  person  ;  his  face  a  very 
mirror  of  benevolent  feeling  and  social  refinement ;  his  man- 
ners evincing  not  only  great  kindliness,  but  a  degree  of  cul- 
ture that  would  not  have  dishonored  a  court.  In  short,  he 
was  an  admirable  model  of  a  Christian  gentleman.  His  mind, 


THE   FOUNDERS.  109 

though  not  uncommonly  rapid  in  its  operations,  always  moved 
in  a  luminous  path,  and  usually  reached  a  result  which  it  was 
not  easy  to  gainsay.  His  manner  in  the  pulpit  was  a  com- 
pound of  solemnity  and  dignity,  and  was  probably  more  thor- 
oughly conformed  to  rule  than  is  consistent  with  the  highest 
efforts  of  pulpit  eloquence.  His  sermons  were,  in  a  very  high 
degree,  methodical ;  were  written  always  with  great  correct- 
ness, and  sometimes  with  high  rhetorical  beauty,  and  were 
always  designed  and  adapted  to  accomplish  an  important  ob- 
ject. In  the  professor's  chair,  he  always  showed  himself  thor- 
oughly at  home  on  the  subject  of  the  recitation,  though  his 
lectures  were  perhaps  less  remarkable  for  bold  and  stirring 
thoughts  than  for  well-digested  and  interesting  details.  He 
never  tired  in  offices  of  good  will  to  his  pupils,  and  they  in 
turn  looked  up  to  him  with  a  reverence  and  gratitude  truly 
filial.  In  his  character  the  graces  of  nature  beautifully  com- 
bined with  the  graces  of  the  Spirit  to  render  him  at  once  one 
of  the  most  attractive  of  men,  and  one  of  the  loveliest  of 
God's  saints. 

HENRY  DAVIS  (the  next  in  order)  was  born  at  East  Hamp- 
ton, L.  I.,  in  1771 ;  was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1796 ; 
studied  theology  under  the  direction  of  the  excellent  Dr. 
Backus,  of  Somers,  Conn. ;  then  served  for  several  years  as  a 
tutor  in  the  college  at  which  he  graduated ;  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor of  divinity  in  the  same  institution  in  1801 ;  but  before 
he  felt  prepared  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  the  place,  his 
health  became  so  much  enfeebled  that  he  was  obliged  to  with- 
draw from  the  college  altogether ;  accepted  the  professorship 
of  the  Greek  language  in  Union  College  in  1806  ;  became 
president  of  Middlebury  College  in  1809,  and  president  of 
Hamilton  College  in  1817,  where  he  remained  until  1833, 
when,  owing  to  some  adverse  circumstances  in  connection  with 
the  economy  of  the  institution,  he  resigned  his  office,  though 
he  continued  to  reside  at  Clinton  till  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  March,  1852.  Dr.  Davis  was  a  man  of  vigorous  mind,  of 
very  liberal  acquirements,  of  ardent  temperament,  of  heroic 


110  THE   BOARD. 

resolution  in  adhering  to  his  own  honest  convictions,  and  of 
much  kindliness  of  spirit  in  his  social  intercourse.  In  his 
preaching  there  was  great  directness,  both  of  matter  and  of 
manner,  and  much  to  indicate  that  his  heart  was  in  all  his 
utterances.  He  had  a  great  distaste  for  all  the  ultraisrns  of 
the  day,  not  caring  to  trust  himself  to  any  other  guides  than 
the  Bible  and  common  sense.  He  was  the  subject  of  a  pro- 
tracted decline  in  his  latter  years ;  but  to  the  close  of  life  he 
joined  the  humility  and  cheerful  trust  of  the  Christian  with 
the  dignity  of  the  sage. 

JESSE  APPLETON  (the  sixth  in  the  series  we  are  presenting) 
was  born  at  New  Ipswich,  N.  H.,  in  1772 ;  was  graduated  at 
Dartmouth  College  with  high  honor  in  1792 ;  spent  nearly  two 
years  after  his  graduation  in  teaching  a  school,  first  at  Dover, 
N.  H.,  and  then  at  Amherst ;  studied  theology  under  the  ven- 
erable Dr.  Lathrop,  of  West  Springfield ;  was  ordained  and 
installed  pastor  of  the  church  in  Hampton,  N.  IT.,  in  1797  ; 
was  chosen  president  of  Bowdoin  College  in  1807,  where  he 
spent  the  residue  of  his  life,  which  came  to  a  close  in  Novem- 
ber, 1819.  President  Appleton  combined  with  the  graces  of  a 
fine  person,  a  striking  countenance,  and  cultivated  manners, 
an  intellect  of  rare  comprehensiveness  and  analytical  power ; 
a  taste  the  most  cultivated  and  exact;  an  exuberance  of 
keen  but  delicate  wit ;  a  high  sense  of  honor,  and  the  most 
genial  and  kindly  sympathies ;  and  finally,  a  profound  rever- 
ence for  the  great  realities  of  religion,  and  a  deep  interest  in 
whatever  had  a  bearing  on  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  fellow- 
men.  He  was  a  highly  attractive  preacher,  especially  to  the 
more  intellectual  portion  of  his  audience,  and  his  published 
sermons  and  lectures  will  leave  no  one  in  doubt  as  to  the 
reason  of  it.  His  influence  upon  the  college  was  eminently 
auspicious,  and  his  name,  throughout  the  whole  region  in 
which  he  lived,  is  a  synonym  at  once  for  greatness  and  for 
goodness. 

The  last  in  this  group,  and  the  only  survivor  of  the  whole 


THE   FOUNDERS.  Ill 

number,  is  ELIPHALET  NOTT,  to  whom  we  can  now  only  allude, 
because  —  thanks  to  a  gracious  Providence  —  the  grave  has  not 
yet  claimed  him.  His  birthplace  was  Ashford,  Conn.,  and  the 
year  of  his  birth  was  1773.  He  spent  several  of  his  early 
years  with  his  elder  brother,  the  Rev.  (afterward  Dr.)  Sam- 
uel Nott,  of  Franklin,  Conn. ;  studied  for  a  while  at  Brown 
University,  and  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from 
that  institution  in  1795  ;  studied  theology  with  his  brother  at 
Franklin,  and  after  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  went  as  a  mis- 
sionary into  the  State  of  New  York,  and  not  long  after  became 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Cherry  Valley,  where  also  he  was  the 
preceptor  of  an  academy ;  accepted  a  call  from  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Albany,  in  1798,  where  he  remained  till 
1804,  when  he  became  president  of  Union  College.  Here  he 
has  been  ever  since,  exerting  an  influence  more  varied  and 
powerful  than  almost  any  other  man  of  his  generation.  It  will 
be  time  enough  to  attempt  an  analysis  of  his  remarkable  charac- 
ter when  the  last  chapter  of  his  eventful  life  can  also  be  written. 

OTHER  EMINENT  MINISTERS  OP  THE  GOSPEL. 

At  the  head  of  this  list  (adopting  the  principle  of  arrange- 
ment already  referred  to)  stands  SAMUEL  SPRING.  He  was 
born  at  Northbridge,  Mass.,  in  1746  ;  was  graduated  at  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  under  the  presidency  of  the  great  Dr. 
Witherspoon,  in  1771 ;  prosecuted  his  theological  studies  part- 
ly at  Princeton  and  partly  in  New  England  ;  commenced 
preaching  in  1774,  and  the  next  year  served  as  chaplain  in  the 
continental  army ;  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  a 
Congregational  church  in  Newburyport,  in  1777 ;  and  contin- 
ued in  that  relation  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in  March. 
1819.  He  belonged  to  the  class  of  ministers  in  New  Eng- 
land commonly  known  as  Hopkinsian.  lie  had  a  large,  well- 
proportioned  frame,  a  countenance  expressive  at  once  of  high 
intellect  and  great  benevolence,  and  more  than  common  urban- 
ity and  dignity  of  manners.  As  a  preacher,  he  was  both  di- 
dactic and  forcible  ;  and  on  some  occasions  he  is  said  to  have 


112  THE   BOARD. 

risen  to  a  very  high  pitch  of  pulpjt  eloquence.  He  had  an 
almost  intuitive  discernment  of  human  character — a  trait 
which  eminently  qualified  him  for  the  adjudication  of  involved 
and  difficult  cases.  When  asked  on  his  death-bed  what  por- 
tion of  his  life  gave  him  most  pleasure  in  the  review,  he  re- 
plied, "  That  I  have  been  permitted  to  preach  the  gospel ;  that 
I  have  been  enabled  to  preach  what  I  believe  to  be  the  system 
of  truth ;  and  that  I  have  been  the  unexpected  instrument  of 
establishing  the  Seminary  at  Andover." 

JOSEPH  LYMAN  was  born  in  Lebanon,  Conn.,  in  1749 ;  was 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1767 ;  served  as  tutor  there  in 
1770-71 ;  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  Hatfield,  Mass.,  in  1772,  and  continued  in 
that  relation  (having  a  colleague  during  his  last  two  years) 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  March,  1828.  Dr.  Lyman 
had  much  of  nobility  enstamped  upon  his  person,  his  counte- 
nance, his  movements,  his  whole  external  bearing.  His  intel- 
lect was  of  a  high  order,  and  was  especially  distinguished  for 
the  bold  and  iron  grasp  which  it  took  of  every  subject  to  which 
it  was  directed.  His  preaching  was  always  sensible  and  logi- 
cal, but  never  in  a  high  degree  popular.  He  was  especially 
at  home  in  deliberative  bodies  and  ecclesiastical  councils,  al- 
ways showing  a  clearness  of  discernment,  a  promptness  of  de- 
cision, a  firmness  to  encounter  opposition,  and  a  perfect  •famil- 
iarity with  parliamentary  usage  and  rule,  that  were  sure  to 
make  him  the  master-spirit  of  the  body.  He  was  an  earnest 
politician,  and  regarded  Federalism  as  so  nearly  allied  to  Chris- 
tianity, that,  in  common  with  many  other  ministers  of  his  day, 
he  did  not  scruple  to  enter  into  a  vigorous  defense  of  it  in  the 
pulpit.  Every  thing  that  occupied  his  thoughts  he  saw  in  a 
strong  light,  and,  as  he  was  incapable  of  concealment,  or  of  a 
temporizing  policy,  it  was  not  strange  that  some  of  his  deliv- 
erances did  not  sit  easily  upon  every  body.  He  had  qualities 
that  would  have  graced  the  head  of  a  nation,  and  especially 
the  head  of  an  army.  Those  who  have  visited  him  at  his 
house  in  old  Hatfield  will  not  need  to  be  told  that  he  always 


THE   FOUNDERS.  113 

received  his  friends  in  a  spirit  of  the  most  simple,  dignified, 
generous  hospitality. 

SETH  PAYSON,  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Phillips  Payson,  was  born 
in  Wai  pole,  Mass.,  in  1758  ;  was  graduated  at  Harvard  Col- 
lege in  1777  ;  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational church  in  Rindge,  N.  H.,  in  1782,  and  continued 
in  that  charge  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  February, 
1820.  He  possessed  a  vigorous  intellect,  a  fertile  imagination, 
a  retentive  memory,  and  a  large  fund  of  varied  and  useful 
knowledge.  He  had  fine  powers  of  conversation,  and  great 
facility  at  adapting  himself  to  any  peculiar  circumstances  into 
which  he  might  be  brought.  He  was  a  luminous  and  highly 
interesting  expounder  of  divine  truth,  and  all  his  services  in 
the  pulpit  were  characterized  by  great  propriety  and  solemnity. 
As  a  pastor,  he  was  at  once  eminently  faithful  and  greatly  be- 
loved. He  was  for  two  years  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  New 
Hampshire,  and  evinced  great  wisdom  and  tact  in  the  busi- 
ness of  legislation.  He  had  a  high  reputation  as  a  counselor 
and  peacemaker,  and  not  a  few  distracted  congregations  were 
indebted  to  his  influence  for  their  recovery  of  a  spirit  of  har- 
mony and  good  will.  And  we  must  not  omit  to  state,  as  not 
the  least  of  his  distinctions,  that  he  was  the  father  of  the  late 
Rev.  Dr.  Payson,  of  Portland,  whose  life  was  a  glowing  epistle, 
now  known  and  read  of  almost  the  whole  of  evangelical  Chris- 
tendom. 

JEDEDIAH  MORSE  was  born  at  "Woodstock,  Conn.,  in  1761 ; 
was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1783  ;  and  from  that  time 
till  1785  taught  a  young  ladies'  school  in  New  Haven,  at 
the  same  time  pursuing  the  study  of  theology  under  Drs.  Ed- 
wards and  Wales ;  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1785  ;  accepted 
a  tutorship  in  Yale  College  in  1786 ;  spent  several  months 
preaching  in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  in  1787,  and  returned 
the  same  year ;  and  after  occupying  several  different  pulpits 
at  the  North  for  a  short  time,  was  selected  as  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  church  in  Charlestown,  Mass.,  in  April,  1789. 
15 


114  THE  BOARD. 

Here  he  continued  till  the  spring  of  1820,  when,  owing  to 
various  circumstances  more  or  less  affecting  his  comfort,  he 
resigned  his  pastoral  charge,  and  removed  to  New  Haven, 
where  he  continued  to  reside  till  the  close  of  his  life.  Dr. 
Morse's  life  was  a  scene  of  uninterrupted  labor,  and  was  a 
much  more  than  ordinarily  eventful  one.  In  the  department 
of  geography,  his  labors  must  undoubtedly  be  considered  as 
marking  an  epoch  in  the  science.  With  most  of  the  benev- 
olent institutions  of  the  country  that  sprung  up  in  the  early 
part  of  the  present  century,  including  also  the  Andover  The- 
ological Seminary,  he  had  much  to  do,  not  only  in  originating 
them,  but  in  nursing  them  through  the  period  of  their 
infancy.  In  his  latter  years  he  directed  much  time  and  atten- 
tion to  the  Christianization  of  our  Indian  tribes  ;  and,  as  tho 
result  of  his  inquiries  under  a  commission  from  the  War 
Department,  he  made  a  report,  of  great  and  enduring  inter- 
est, which  was  published  in  an  octavo  volume,  in  1822.  He 
was  very  prominent  in  the  controversy  which  attended  the 
introduction,  or  rather  the  avowal,  of  Unitarianism  in  New 
England  ;  first,  by  publishing  his  "  True  Reasons  "  for  oppos- 
ing the  election  of  Dr.  Ware  to  the  professorship  of  divinity 
in  Harvard  College ;  next,  by  projecting,  and  for  many  years 
sustaining,  the  Panoplist ;  and  finally,  by  issuing  a  pamphlet 
entitled  "  American  Unitarianism,"  consisting  of  extracts 
from  Belsham's  Life  of  Lindsey,  which  opened  the  controversy 
in  which  Channing  and  Worcester,  and  afterward  Stuart, 
Woods,  and  Ware,  were  the  principal  writers.  Dr.  Morse 
was  a  man  of  very  pleasing  person  and  address,  of  great 
mental  activity,  of  boundless  industry,  of  unquenchable 
ardor,  and  of  a  perseverance  that  was  proof  against  every 
thing  not  absolutely  insuperable.  He  had  high  executive 
talent,  as  was  evident  from  the  fact  of  his  being  a  prominent 
member  or  officer  of  so  many  public  institutions.  He  was  an 
easy,  perspicuous,  and  classical  writer,  and  his  sermons  were 
always  evangelical  and  instructive,  and  delivered  in  a  clear, 
musical  voice,  and  with  perfect  simplicity  of  manner.  Circum- 
stances conspired  to  make  him  somewhat  a  man  of  war  in  his 


THE  FOUNDERS.  115 

day  ;  but  it  was  not  in  that  respect  only  that  he  was  a  man  of 
mark.  His  name  survives,  not  only  in  his  own  manifold 
works,  but  in  the  character  and  achievements  of  an  illustrious 
progeny. 

CALVIN  CHAPIN  was  born  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  in  1761 : 
was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1788  ;  afterward  spent 
two  years  in  Hartford  in  teaching  a  school ;  studied  theol- 
ogy under  the  Rev.  Dr.  Perkins,  of  "West  Hartford  ;  and, 
shortly  after  being  licensed  to  preach,  was  chosen  tutor  in 
Yale  College,  which  office  he  held  till  1794,  when  he  accepted 
an  invitation  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  church  in  Rocky 
Hill,  Conn.  In  1847,  he  retired  from  the  active  duties  of  his 
office  ;  and  in  March,  1851,  was  called  to  his  rest.  He  was 
a  tall  man,  not  very  symmetrically  built;  very  quick,  and 
somewhat  angular  in  his  movements ;  shrewd,  clear-headed, 
and  witty ;  earnest,  energetic,  and  persevering ;  and  caring 
little  what  others  might  think  or  say  of  him,  so  long  as  he  was 
convinced  that  he  was  in  the  right.  He  was  a  most  entertain- 
ing companion,  an  able  preacher,  and  a  vigorous  laborer  in 
every  good  cause  that  came  within  the  range  of  his  efforts  or 
his  influence.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  active 
promoters  of  the  cause  of  temperance.  He  was  intensely 
solemn  in  his  public  ministrations,  but  his  boundless  good 
humor  in  private  amounted  well-nigh  to  a  passion. 

SAMUEL  WORCESTER  was  born  at  Hollis,  N.  H.,  in  1770 ; 
was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College,  with  the  highest  honors 
of  his  class,  in  1795 ;  immediately  after,  accepted  the  charge 
of  the  New  Ipswich  Academy,  at  the  same  time  pursuing 
his  theological  studies ;  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor 
of  the  church  in  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  in  1797;  resigned  his 
charge,  on  account  of  the  dislike  of  some  of  his  people 
for  his  Calvinistic  doctrines,  in  1802 ;  and  the  next  year 
was  installed  pastor  of  the  Tabernacle  Church  in  Salem. 
When  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  was  formed 
in  1810,  he  was  chosen  its  Corresponding  Secretary.  In  1817, 


116  THE   BOARD. 

• 

finding  the  duties  of  this  office,  in  connection  with  those  of 
his  pastoral  charge,  an  overmatch  for  his  strength,  he  received 
the  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius  as  a  colleague  in  his  ministerial 
labors.  In  January,  1820,  with  a  view  to  .the  improvement  of 
his  health,  as  well  as  to  see  for  himself  the  condition  of  the 
missions  in  the  South-west,  he  sailed  from  Boston  to  New 
Orleans,  and  thence  passed  on  to  the  Cherokee  tribe  of  Indians. 
He  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  the  missionaries  at  Mayhew 
and  Brainerd ;  but  by  this  time  his  health  had  declined  so  far 
that  he  was  unable  to  proceed  further ;  and  there,  among  the 
children  of  the  forest,  he  died,  on  the  7th  of  June  following. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  comprehensiveness  and  power  of 
mind,  as  well  as  of  remarkable  executive  tact  and  ability. 
What  he  accomplished  for  the  cause  of  foreign  missions  espe- 
cially is  a  monument  to  his  honor,  alike  noble  and  imperish- 
able. There  was  a  certain  manliness  and  force  of  character, 
a  far-reaching  insight  into  the  future,  and  an  heroic  fidelity 
to  his  own  convictions,  that  always  made  his  presence  an 
acknowledged  element  of  power.  He  wielded  a  most  vigorous 
pen,  and  in  controversy  was  well-nigh  matchless.  His  letters 
to  Dr.  Channing,  in  connection  with  the  Unitarian  contro- 
versy, especially  the  last  letter,  have  been  considered  as  almost 
unrivaled  specimens  of  polemic  theological  discussion.  His 
published  sermons  are  rich  in  evangelical  thought,  logically 
and  luminously  presented,  and  show  that  his  ministry  must 
have  been  a  highly  edifying  one.  Intellectually,  theologically, 
practically,  he  might  well  be  reckoned  among  the  giants  of 
his  day. 

EMINENT  CIVILIANS. 

JOHN  LANGDON  was  born  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  in  1739, 
and  was  educated  at  a  grammar  school  in  his  native  place. 
Though  the  commencement  of  the  revolution  found  him 
engaged  in  a  profitable  mercantile  business,  he  entered  with 
great  spirit  into  the  contest,  and,  at  the  peril  of  his  property, 
and  even  life,  he  participated  in  the  removal  of  the  armament 
and  military  stores  from  Fort  William  and  Mary,  in  Ports- 


THE   FOUNDERS.  117 

mouth  harbor.  In  1775,  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  but  resigned  his  office  in  1776,  on  account  of  being 
chosen  navy  agent.  In  1777,  he  was  Speaker  of  the  New 
Hampshire  House  of  Assembly ;  and  subsequently  was  a 
member  and  Speaker  of  the  State  legislature,  a  member  of 
the  Continental  Congress,  a  delegate  to  the  convention  that 
framed  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  President 
of  New  Hampshire.  He  was  one  of  the  first  United  States 
senators  from  New  Hampshire,  and  held  the  office  until  1801. 
On  the  accession  of  Jefferson  to  the  presidency,  the  post  of 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  was  offered  him ;  but  he  declined  it. 
From  1805  to  1812,  with  the  exception  of  two  years,  he  was 
Governor  of  New  Hampshire  :  and  in  1812  was  offered  by  the 
republican  congressional  caucus  the  nomination  for  the  office 
of  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  which,  however,  on 
account  of  the  infirmities  of  advancing  age,  he  declined. 
Several  of  his  last  years  he  spent  in  retirement.  During  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  he  was  a  member  of  a  Congregational 
church,  and  seemed  to  place  a  high  value  upon  Christian 
ordinances.  His  disposition  was  eminently  social,  his  manners 
urbane,  and  his  whole  bearing  exceedingly  attractive. 

ELIAS  BOUDINOT  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  in  1740,  and, 
after  receiving  a  classical  education,  studied  law  under  Richard 
Stockton,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, and  very  soon  became  eminent  in  his  profession.  He 
early  espoused  his  country's  cause,  and  in  1777  was  appointed 
by  Congress  commissary  general  of  prisoners,  and  during  the 
same  year  was  elected  a  member  of  that  body,  of  which  also 
he  became  president  in  1782,  and  in  that  capacity  signed  the 
treaty  of  peace.  He  now  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  but 
was  again  elected  to  Congress,  under  the  new  constitution,  in 
1789,  and  continued  a  member  for  six  years.  In  1796,  Wash- 
ington appointed  him  director  of  the  mint  of  the  United 
States,  as  the  successor  of  Rittenhouse,  which  office  he  held 
until  1805.  He  was  first  president  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  and  made  to  it  the  munificent  donation  of  ten  thou- 


118  THE  BOARD. 

sand  dollars.  He  distributed  his  property  with  a  most  liberal 
hand  while  he  lived,  and  by  his  last  will  bequeathed  the 
principal  part  of  his  large  estate  to  charitable  uses.  He  was 
a  man  of  an  originally  strong  and  highly  cultivated  mind,  of 
most  enlarged  views,  of  glowing  patriotism,  of  gentlemanly 
and  honorable  bearing,  and  consistent  and  elevated  piety. 

JEDIDIAH  HUNTINGTON  was  born  in  Norwich.  Conn.,  in  the 
year  1743 ;  was  graduated  with  high  honor  at  Harvard 
College  in  1763 ;  and  soon  after  engaged  in  commercial  pur- 
suits. He  entered  the  continental  army  in  command  of  a 
regiment  in  1775,  and  in  1777  was  appointed  by  Congress  a 
brigadier  general.  After  the  war,  he  served  as  sheriff  of  the 
county  in  which  he  lived,  and  as  treasurer  of  the  State.  In 
1789,  he  was  appointed  collector  of  the  port  of  New  London, 
and  held  the  office  twenty-six  years.  He  served  his  country 
honorably  during  the  stirring  scenes  of  the  revolution,  and  he 
served  his  God  faithfully  from  early  manhood  to  the  close  of 
his  life.  He  was  not  only  a  member,  but  an  officer  of  the 
church,  and  was  a  fine  model  of  a  finished  gentleman.  God 
had  given  him  not  only  large  means,  but  a  large  heart,  thus 
rendering  him  a  great  public  benefactor. 

JOHN  TREADWELL  was  born  in  Farmington,  Conn.,  in  1745  ; 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1767  ;  studied  law  under  Titus 
Hosmcr,  of  Middletown,  and  then  settled  in  his  native  town, 
but  without  engaging  in  the  practice.  He  was  a  zealous 
patriot  in  the  revolution,  and  was  a  representative  of  the  town 
to  the  General  Assembly  for  many  years,  commencing  with 
1776.  In  1785,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  assistants,  and  was 
annually  reflected  to  this  office  till  1798,  when  he  was  chosen 
Lieutenant  Governor.  In  the  autumn  of  1809,  on  the  decease 
of  Governor  Trumbull,  he  was  chosen,  by  the  legislature,  to 
the  office  of  Governor  ;  and,  by  a  renewal  of  the  appointment 
at  their  session  in  May,  he  was  continued  in  that  office  during 
the  following  year.  He  occupied  also,  at  different  periods, 
several  respectable  judicial  positions,  and  was  for  a  long  time 


THE   FOUNDERS.  119 

one  of  the  most  influential  members  of  the  corporation  of 
Yale  College.  He  was  distinguished  rather  for  excellent 
common  sense  and  good  judgment,  than  for  any  of  those 
qualities  which  enter  into  the  idea  of  genius.  His  opinions 
were  carefully  formed,  and  were  held  with  great  tenacity,  and 
no  temptation  was  powerful  enough  to  occasion  the  least 
faltering  of  his  fidelity  to  the  true  and  the  right.  He  was  a 
most  diligent  student  of  the  Scriptures,  an  earnest  friend  of 
evangelical  religion,  and  a  humble  and  devout  worshiper  of 
God.  He  died  in  August,  1823,  aged  seventy-seven  years. 

JOHN  JAY  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  1745  ;  was 
graduated  at  King's  College  in  1764,  after  which  he  studied 
law,  and  in  1768  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  The  high  pro- 
fessional reputation  which  he  very  soon  acquired,  as  well  as 
his  unyielding  integrity  and  fervent  patriotism,  attracted  the 
eyes  of  his  fellow-citizens  toward  him  as  a  suitable  person  to 
be  put  forward  in  the  opening  contest  for  independence.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  was  appointed  to  the  first  American  Congress  in 
1774 ;  and  he  was  the  writer  of  the  eloquent  address  to  the 
people  of  Great  Britain,  which  was  adopted  by  Congress  in  the 
autumn  of  that  year.  In  1776,  he  was  recalled  to  as'sist  in 
framing  the  government  of  New  York.  After  the  fall  of  New 
York  and  the  removal  of  the  Provincial  Assembly  to  Pough- 
keepsie,  his  mind  was  constantly  at  work,  and  his  pen  often,  in 
performing  good  service  for  his  country.  From  1777  to  1779, 
he  was  Chief  Justice  of  the  State,  but  resigned  the  office  in 
consequence  of  his  duties  as  President  of  Congress.  In  1779, 
he  was  appointed  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the  court  of 
Spain.  In  1782,  he  was  appointed  a  commissioner  to  negoti- 
ate a  peace  with  Great  Britain ;  and  he  signed  the  definitive 
treaty  at  Paris,  in  September,  1783.  In  1784,  he  returned  to 
this  country,  and,  even  before  his  arrival,  had  been  appointed 
by  Congress  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs.  In  1789, 
he  was  appointed  by  Washington  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States.  In  1794,  he  was  appointed  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
to  Great  Britain,  and  was  instrumental  in  effecting  the  famous 


120  THE   BOARD. 

treaty  which  bears  his  name.  In  1795  he  was  elected,  and  in 
1798  he  was  reflected,  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
In  the  summer  of  1800,  he  withdrew  from  the  cares  of  public 
life,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Bedford,  N.  Y.,  where,  in 
dignified  retirement,  he  passed  the  residue  of  his  days,  and 
died  in  May,  1829,  aged  eighty-four  years.  With  splendid 
powers  of  intellect,  cultivated  by  the  best  educational  advan- 
tages, he  combined  the  most  unswerving  integrity  and  intense 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  his  country  and  his  race.  He  never 
held  any  public  office  but  that  his  character  reflected  honor 
upon  it.  He  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  much  of  his  time  during  his  last  years  was 
given  to  studying  the  Scriptures,  and  devout  meditation  on 
religious  subjects.  His  patriotism  was  of  a  truly  Christian 
type  ;  his  religion  was  at  once  calm,  earnest,  and  consistent ; 
and  both  the  church  and  the  state  are  pledged  that  his  memory 
shall  be  fragrant  with  coming  generations. 

EGBERT  BENSON  was  born  (it  is  believed  in  the  city  of  New 
York)  in  the  year  1747.  He  was  graduated  at  King's  (now 
Columbia)  College  in  1765  ;  studied  law,  and  rose  to  eminence 
in  his  profession.  He  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  1784 
to  1788  ;  and  was  subsequently  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Xew  York,  and  also  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States  for  the  district  of  New  York.  In  person  he  was  rather 
short  and  thick-set,  with  an  expression  of  countenance  that 
betokened  much  kindly  feeling.  He  was  highly  intellectual 
in  his  tastes,  and  had  acquired  a  vast  amount  of  general  in- 
formation, while  he  was  more  especially  versed  in  literary  and 
historical  antiquities.  He  was  for  many  years  an  exemplary 
member  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  and  his  life  was  in 
beautiful  harmony  with  his  Christian  profession.  He  was  a 
most  genial  and  entertaining  companion,  having  always  some- 
thing to  impart  from  the  vast  and  varied  stores  of  facts  and 
incidents  treasured  in  his  memory,  suited  to  every  occasion. 

WILLIAM  BARTLET  was  born  in  Newburyport,  Mass.,  in  the 


THE    FOUNDERS.  121 

year  1748.  He  began  life  in  comparative  poverty,  and  spent 
the  years  of  his  minority  with  his  father,  sharing  with  him  the 
labors  of  a  humble  occupation  ;  but  he  succeeded  at  length 
in  becoming  owner,  in  part,  of  a  vessel  employed  in  trade. 
This  was  the  first  step  in  the  course  that  resulted  in  his  becom- 
ing one  of  the  most  opulent  men  in  the  country.  Though  he 
was  not  a  little  embarrassed  in  his  commercial  pursuits  by  the 
war  of  the  revolution,  the  return  of  peace  marked  a  decided 
epocli  in  his  pecuniary  prosperity,  and  from  that  period  to 
nearly  the  close  of  his  long  life,  he  might  be  said  to  be  actively 
engaged  in  business.  He  was  a  man  of  a  firm,  athletic  frame, 
of  a  vigorous  and  discriminating  mind,  of  great  decision,  and 
most  persevering  industry.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  all  that 
pertained  to  the  well-being  of  society,  was  a  warm  friend  to 
divine  institutions,  and  a  diligent  student  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures ;  but  it  is  believed  that  for  some  reason,  known  perhaps 
only  to  himself,  he  never  made  a  public  profession  of  religion. 
But  that  for  which  he  was  most  distinguished,  was  the  prince- 
ly munificence  which  he  manifested  in  relation  to  the  numer- 
ous and  varied  objects  of  public  and  private  charity.  His 
well-known  liberality  toward  the  Theological  Seminary  at  An- 
dover  would  alone  be  sufficient  to  place  him  among  the  most 
distinguished  of  our  public  benefactors.  He  died  at  Xewbury- 
port,  where  he  had  spent  his  whole  life,  on  the  8th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1841,  aged  ninety-three  years. 

WILLIAM  PHILLIPS  was  born  in  Boston  in  the  year  1750,  and 
being  prevented  by  a  feeble  constitution  from  receiving  a  col- 
legiate education,  he  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  with  his 
father,  from  whom,  in  due  time,  he  inherited  an  immense  for- 
tune. He  was  for  a  long  time  a  representative  in  the  State 
legislature,  was  more  than  once  an  elector  at  large  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  was  for  several  years 
Lieutenant  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  In  stature,  he  was 
scarcely  up  to  the  medium  height ;  his  countenance  was  ex- 
pressive of  the  utmost  benignity  ;  and  his  manners,  though 
highly  polished  and  worthy  of  his  exalted  position  in  society, 
16 


122  THE  BOARD. 

were  as  simple  as  childhood.  In  his  natural  disposition,  he  was 
generous  and  affectionate  ;  lie  abhorred  every  thing  like  in- 
trigue or  cunning,  and  in  all  his  business  relations  was  scru- 
pulously exact  in  meeting  all  the  claims  of  justice.  He  was 
thoroughly  evangelical  in  his  creed,  and  eminently  blameless 
and  consistent  in  his  life.  His  benevolence  scarcely  knew  a 
limit ;  for  many -years  before  his  death,  his  annual  contribu- 
tions to  charitable  objects  were  from  eight  to  eleven  thousand 
dollars  ;  and  by  his  will  he  contributed  to  the  same  class  of 
objects  upwards  of  sixty  thousand  dollars.  He  died  in  Boston, 
on  the  26th  of  May,  1827,  aged  seventy-seven  years. 

HENRY  SEWALL  was  born  in  York,  Me.,  in  1752.  From 
his  father  he  learned  the  mason's  trade,  and  worked  at  it  in 
his  earlier  years.  He  early  became  deeply  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  the  revolution,  and  having  joined  the  army  in  1775, 
he  continued  his  connection  with  it  until  the  peace.  As  he  had 
the  title,  for  many  years,  of  "  General "  Sewall,  it  is  presumed 
that  subsequently  to  the  revolution  he  was  connected  with  the 
militia  of  his  own  State.  When  the  Congregational  church 
was  formed  in  Hallowell,  in  1791,  he  united  with  it  and  be- 
came its  deacon.  He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  tal- 
ents ;  of  highly  cultivated  mind,  considering  his  opportunities ; 
of  an  uncommonly  meek  and  benevolent  spirit ;  and  of  most 
earnest  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Christ.  He  studied  the  Bible 
closely  and  critically,  and  admitted  nothing  as  an  article  of  his 
creed  for  which  he  could  not  give  what  was  to  himself,  at  least, 
a  satisfactory  reason.  He  was  greatly  respected  and  honored 
throughout  the  whole  region  in  which  he  lived  for  his  intelli- 
gence, benevolence,  piety,  and  active  usefulness.  He  died  at 
Augusta,  Me.,  in  September,  1845,  aged  ninety-three  years. 
He  was  brother  of  the  venerable  Jotham  Sewall,  whose  name 
is  so  fragrant  throughout  all  the  Congregational  churches  of 
Maine. 

WILLIAM  JONES  was  born  in  Newport,  R.  I.,  in  1754.  Dur- 
ing the  war  of  the  revolution,  he  was  a  captain  of  marines, 


THE  FOUNDERS.  123 

and  at  the  capture  of  Charleston  was  made  a  prisoner.  He 
was  for  several  years  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives in  Rhode  Island,  and  in  1810  was  chosen  Governor  of  the 
State,  and  remained  in  office  till  1817.  He  died  at  Provi- 
dence, in  April,  1822,  aged  sixty-seven  years.  He  was  highly 
respected  for  his  talents  and  virtues,  and  acquitted  himself 
honorably  in  the  various  posts  of  public  responsibility  and  use- 
fulness that  he  occupied. 

ROBERT  RALSTON  was  born  in  Chester  County,  Pa.,  in  1761, 
and,  with  little  more  than  a  common-school  education,  he  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  business  in  Philadelphia,  not  far  from  the 
time  that  he  reached  his  majority.  By  his  bland  manners,  skill- 
ful management,  and  incorruptible  integrity,  he  gradually  rose 
to  the  highest  point  of  commercial  respectability,  and  accumu- 
lated a  fortune  which  gave  him  a  place  among  the  most  opu- 
lent citizens  of  Philadelphia.  At  the  same  time,  his  liberality 
was  proportioned  to  his  affluence :  he  was  the  watchful  and 
generous  friend  of  many  of  the  benevolent  institutions  of  his 
day  ;  and  of  the  Philadelphia  Bible  Society,  the  first  institution 
of  the  kind  on  this  continent,  he  was  the  acknowledged  origi- 
nator. He  was  distinguished  for  sterling  good  sense,  and  close 
observation  of  men  and  things :  for  uncommonly  active  hab- 
its ;  for  great  urbanity  of  manners ;  for  the  most  whole-souled 
and  graceful  hospitality ;  and  for  whatever  enters  into  the 
character  of  a  devout  and  earnest  Christian.  From  the  year 
1802  till  his  death,  lie  held  the  office  of  ruling  elder  in  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  a  model 
of  dignity,  consistency,  and  kindliness,  in  all  his  relations. 
He  died  in  Philadelphia,  in  August,  1836,  in  the  seventy-fifth 
year  of  his  age. 

JOHN  HOOKER  was  born  in  Northampton,  Mass.,  in  the  year 
1761.  His  father  was  the  Rev.  John  Hooker,  the  immediate 
successor  in  the  pastorate  to  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  one  of 
the  brightest  lights  of  the  New  England  pulpit.  He  was  grad- 
uated at  Yale  College  in  1782,  after  which  he  studied  law  with 


124  THE   BOARD. 

his  uncle,  Colonel  John  Wortliington,  and  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  it  at  Springfield.  Here  he  continued  till  the  close  of  life. 
On  relinquishing  the  practice  of  law  in  1810,  he  was  appoint- 
ed Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  held  the 
office  for  about  ten  years.  He  was  also  for  a  long  time  Judge 
of  Probate,  and  in  various  ways  exerted  an  influence  that  ex- 
tended much  beyond  his  own  town  or  county.  He  was  a  man 
of  excellent  sense,  and  of  great  practical  wisdom.  When 
thrown  among  strangers,  he  was  more  inclined  to  hear  than  to 
talk  ;  but  with  his  intimate  friends,  he  was  as  social  and  genial 
as  could  be  desired.  His  judgment  was  greatly  confided  in  by 
men  of  different  religious  creeds  and  different  political  parties. 
He  possessed  the  most  unyielding  integrity,  and  no  one  ever 
thought  to  move  him  a  hair's  breadth  from  the  line  of  his  hon- 
est convictions.  He  had  withdrawn  from  the  practice  of  the 
law  many  years  before  his  death,  but  he  was  always  doing  good 
by  his  pure  and  devoted  example,  and  was  ready  to  render 
efficient  aid  to  any  good  object  that  solicited  his  attention.  He 
was  for  many  years  a  deacon  in  the  First  Congregational 
Church  in  Springfield,  and  was  a  steady  and  stanch  friend  to 
the  interests  of  evangelical  Christianity.  He  died  in  1829, 
carrying  with  him  to  his  grave  the  blessings  of  the  community 
of  which  he  had  been  for  so  many  years  a  valued  and  honored 
member. 

JEREMIAH  EVARTS  was  born  in  Sunderland,  Yt.,  in  the  year 
1781.  After  going  through  his  preparatory  course  under  the 
Rev.  John  Eliot,  of  Guilford,  Conn.,  he  entered  Yale  College, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1802.  He  was  hopefully  the  subject 
of  a  revival  that  occurred  in  college  early  in  his  senior  year ; 
and  he  connected  himself  with  the  college  church.  After 
spending  some  time  in  teaching  an  academy  at  Peacham,  Yt., 
he  studied  law  under  Judge  Chauncy,  of  New  Haven,  and 
commenced  practice  there  in  1806.  In  1810,  he  removed  to 
Charlestown,  Mass.,  to  take  the  editorial  charge  of  the  Pano- 
plist,  a  monthly  religious  periodical,  which  had  been  originat- 
ed, and  for  several  years  conducted,  by  Dr.  Morse ;  and  he 


THE   FOUNDERS.  125 

continued  to  be  thus  engaged  until  1820,  when  the  work  was 
superseded  by  the  Missionary  Herald,  published  under  the 
direction  of  the  American  Board.  In  1812,  he  was  chosen 
treasurer  of  the  Board,  and  the  next  year  a  member  of  the 
Prudential  Committee.  The  former  of  these  offices  he  held 
until  1822.  In  1821,  he  succeeded  Dr.  Worcester  as  Corre- 
sponding Secretary,  and  during  the  next  and  last  ten  years 
of  his  life  he  devoted  himself  with  a  martyr-like  zeal  to  the 
duties  of  this  most  responsible  office,  accomplishing  for  the 
cause  of  missions  what  could  scarcely  have  been  expected  in 
an  ordinary  life.  In  the  early  part  of  1831,  his  health  had  be- 
come so  much  reduced,  —  partly,  no  doubt,  from  his  excessive 
labors,  —  that  he  found  it  necessary  to  intermit  his  active  exer- 
tions, and  use  some  special  means  for  his  restoration.  He 
accordingly  sailed  for  Cuba  in  February,  and,  after  remaining 
there  a  few  weeks,  came  to  Charleston,  S.  C.,  where  he  stopped 
with  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Palmer,  and  on  the  10th  of  May 
entered  into  his  rest.  His  personal  appearance  was  by  no 
means  imposing,  but  he  had  a  mind  and  a  heart  that  made 
him  a  prince  in  the  domain  of  intellect  and  of  goodness.  He 
was  far-seeing,  cautious,  earnest,  firm,  conciliatory,  —  every 
thing,  in  short,  to  render  him  an  eminently  suitable  person  to 
conduct  one  of  the  grandest  of  human  enterprises.  His  me- 
morial is  in  the  record  of  his  wise  plans  successfully  carried 
out,  of  his  untiring  labors  cheerfully  performed,  of  his  mani- 
fold sacrifices  patiently  submitted  to,  and  of  the  joy  unspeak- 
able and  full  of  glory  that  filled  his  soul  while  the  gate  of 
heaven  was  opening  to  receive  him. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

MEETINGS  OF   THE   BOARD. 

•The  Earlier  Meetings.  —  Where  held. —  In  what  Buildings.  —  Attendance.  —  North- 
ampton, 1825.— New  York,  1827.  — The  Lord's  Supper.  —  Boston,  1830.— Philadel- 
phia, 1841.— The  Meeting  held  under  Excitement  of  a  Debt.  — Of  Extraordinary 
Interest  and  Influence.  —  Treasurer's  Statement.  —  Mr.  Hubbard's  Speech.  —  Mr. 
Greene's  Speech.  —  Session  prolonged.  —  Affecting  Scene.  —  The  Roll  called,  and 
Members  pledge  themselves. —  The  Assembly  testifies  its  Sympathy.  —  Special 
Meeting  at  Xcw  York,  1842.— Results  of  the  Pledges.  —  Meeting  at  Norwich,  1842. 
—  Rochester,  1843.  — Dr.  Chapin's  Letter.  —  Worcester,  1844.  —  Brooklyn,  1845.— 
First  Vote  by  Yea  and  Xay. —  Other  Cases.  —  Boston,  1848.  —  Mr.  Greene's  Letter. 
— Pittsfield,  1849.  — Cincinnati,  1853. — Attendance  of  Members.  —  Tendency  west- 
ward. —  Hartford,  1854.— Mr.  Hill's  Letter.  —  Special  Meeting,  1856.— Mr.  Freling- 
huysen's  Letter. 

THE  annual  meetings  of  the  Board  are  held  in  the  autumn. 
Dr.  Porter,  of  Farmington,  informs  us  that  the  first  meeting 
was  in  his  parlor.  Only  five  members  were  present,  and  he 
seems  to  have  been  the  only  spectator.  Five  others  of  the  an- 
nual meetings  were  in  parlors  ;  one  at  Worcester,  in  the 
boarding  house  of  the  Misses  Kennedy,  where  the  gentlemen 
all  lodged ;  three  at  Hartford,  all  in  the  house  of  Henry  Hud- 
son, Esq.  ;  the  other  at  Salem,  in  the  house  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Bartlett,  one  of  the  earliest  large  contributors  to  the  Board. 
The  last  was  in  1820.  Eleven  were  in  halls  of  moderate  size, 
the  last  of  these  in  1831 ;  nine  were  in  lecture  rooms,  the 
last  in  1839.  The  first  business  meeting  in  a  church  edi- 
fice was  in  1833,  and  such  meetings  were  always  with  a  small 
attendance  until  1842.  It  was  long  the  impression  that  what 
were  called  business  sessions  could  not  have  much  popular 
interest. 

Only  seven  members  were  in  attendance  at  the  second  meet- 
ing ;  nine  at  the  third ;  and  twelve  at  the  fourth.  The  wri- 
ter's first  attendance  was  at  Northampton,  in  1825,  when  the 

(12C) 


MEETINGS  OP  THE  BOARD.  127 

meeting  was  in  the  town  hall.  Eighteen  Corporate  and  twelve 
Honorary  members  were  present,  who  were  generally  seated 
around  a  long  table ;  and  his  most  distinct  remembrance  of 
them  is  in  debating  the  question  of  discontinuing  the  Foreign 
Mission  School  atjCornwall.  Mr.  Evarts  was  the  chief  speaker 
in  favor  of  the  discontinuance,  and  Dr.  Beecher  against  it,  but 
all  in  the  best  feeling. 

The  meeting  at  New  York  city,  in  the  year  1827,  was 
remarkable  for  its  animated  and  protracted  discussions  on  the 
duty  of  a  far  more  extended  liberality.  Josiah  Bissell,  Jr., 
who  must  still  be  well  remembered  in  the  interior  of  New 
York  for  his  self-sacrificing  efforts  to  sustain  a  line  of  Sab- 
bath-keeping stage  coaches  on  the  great  route  of  western  trav- 
el, was  present,  and  the  moving  spirit  of  the  occasion.  Some 
of  the  proceedings  of  that  meeting  are  noted  in  the  chapter 
on  agencies.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  then  administered  for 
the  first  time,  in  connection  with  the  meetings  of  the  Board  ; 
and  so  well  pleased  were  the  members  with  their  experience 
on  that  occasion,  that  they  voted  to  repeat  the  celebration 
ever  after. 

The  meeting  of  1830,  at  Boston,  was  the  last  which  Mr. 
Evarts  attended,  as  the  one  just  ten  years  before  was  the  last 
attended  by  Dr.  "Worcester.  Thirty  years  have  passed  since 
that  meeting.  Of  the  twenty-eight  Corporate  members  then 
present,  twenty  are  now  in  their  graves  ;  and  so  are  one 
third  of  the  five-and-twenty  Honorary  members.  The  sessions 
were  in  the  chapel  of  the  Old  South  Church,  an  irregular 
building,  of  one  story,  in  Spring  Lane,  since  replaced  by  a 
more  commodious  edifice.  The  room  was  at  no  time  more 
than  half  filled ;  but  what  an  amount  of  character  and 
influence  !  Speaking  only  of  a  few  of  the  departed,  there 
was  Governor  Smith,  the  President  of  the  Board,  dignified, 
courteous,  the  most  accomplished  of  presiding  officers.  There 
was  General  Van  JRensselaer,  the  "  Patroon,"  alike  distin- 
guished for  wealth,  personal  standing,  modesty,  and  true  dig- 
nity of  character ;  he  was  the  Vice  President.  Dr.  Calvin 


128  THE  BOARD. 

Chapin  was  there,  the  Recording  Secretary,  and  then  the  only 
clerical  survivor  of  the  original  members.  His  Records  lie 
open  before  us,  in  two  volumes,  bound  by  himself,  distinctly 
legible,  but  with  not  an  inch  of  unoccupied  paper.  We 
remember  him  for  his  laconic  replies,  his  irrepressible  wit,  the 
occasional  flashes  of  his  rigid  countenance,  and  the  interest 
of  his  conversation  and  familiar  letters.  Dr.  Chapin  lived  to 
see  the  rule  abolished  giving  to  the  Corporate  members  the 
right  to  draw  their  traveling  expenses  in  attending  the  meet- 
ings ;  and  he  was  apprehensive  as  to  the  measure,  lest  it 
should  diminish  the  attendance  and  influence  of  that  class. 
Eighteen  years  have  passed,  and  those  apprehensions  have  not 
been  realized.  Dr.  Miller  and  Dr.  Alexander,  of  the  Prince- 
ton Theological  Seminary,  were  there  ;  both  remarkable  men, 
who  evinced  a  deep  interest  in  the  deliberations.  There  were 
three  lay  members,  successively  chairmen  of  the  Prudential 
Committee :  William  Reed,  for  some  time  a  member  of  Con- 
gress ;  Samuel  Hubbard,  afterward  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court ;  and  Samuel  T.  Armstrong,  subsequently  Lieutenant 
Governor  of  Massachusetts.  Each  of  them,  through  a  course 
of  years,  devoted  a  large  amount  of  valuable  time,  thought, 
and  influence  to  the  cause ;  and  they  too  have  gone  from 
earth.*  Dr.  Woods,  from  the  Andover  Seminary,  was  there, 
watching  the  flow  of  the  river  which  he  was  able  to  trace  back 
better  than  almost  any  other  one  present ;  and  Dr.  David 
Porter,  every  faculty  of  whose  great  soul  was  enlisted  in 
Christ's  cause ;  Dr.  Justin  Edwards,  whose  rare  grasp  of  the 
relations  and  powers  of  general  principles  afterward  gave 
wonderful  effect  to  his  labors  in  the  cause  of  temperance  and 
the  Sabbath;  Dr.  Benjamin  B.  Wisner,  who,  with  his  fine 
executive  talent,  was  soon  to  be  enlisted  as  a  Secretary  of  the 
Board,  alas !  for  so  short  a  time ;  and  Dr.  Elias  Cornelius, 
then  approaching,  as  it  soon  appeared,  the  close  of  his  brilliant 
and  most  useful  career.  It  was  at  this  meeting  that  Mr.  Evarts 

•  A  lifelike  portrait  of  Mr.  Reed,  along  with  an  equally  truthful  one  of 
Dr.  Worcester,  now  graces  the  committee  room,  and  it  would  be  well  if 
similar  memorials  of  the  others  were  also  there. 


MEETINGS  OF  THE  BOARD.  129 

read  the  conclusion  to  the  twenty-first  Report,  containing  a 
prospective  view  of  our  own  country  —  one  of  the  most  elo- 
quent productions  that  has  resulted  from  the  modern  mis- 
sionary enterprise. 

The  meeting  at  Philadelphia,  in  1841,  is  worthy  of  an 
extended  notice ;  not  so  much  on  account  of  the  attendance 
of  members,  though  that  was  unusual,  as  for  its  remarkable 
character,  and  its  extended,  powerful,  and  permanent  influ- 
ence upon  the  community.  It  was  held  under  the  excitement 
of  a  debt,  which  had  been  accumulating  for  several  years,  and 
had  become  nearly  as  large  as  the  one  that  so  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  Jubilee  Meeting.  That  was  one  of  the  great 
pecuniary  crises  of  the  Board ;  and  such  was  the  effect  of  the 
meeting,  through  the  divine  blessing,  that  this  debt  was 
removed  before  the  next  anniversary,  through  the  ordinary 
channels  of  contribution.  An  excellent  account  of  the  meet- 
ing, in  the  New  York  Observer,  by  the  editor,  Dr.  S.  I.  Prime, 
contributed  much  to  its  influence  on  the  community ;  and  a 
free  use  will  be  made  here  of  that  report. 

The  meeting  was  held  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
commencing  on  Wednesday,  September  8,  at  ten  o'clock,  A.  M. 
The  receipts  of  the  year  had  been  two  hundred  and  thirty-five 
thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  dollars  and  thirty  cents ; 
the  expenditure,  two  hundred  and  sixty-eight  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  fourteen  dollars  and  seventy-nine  cents;  and 
the  debt  was  fifty-seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight 
dollars  and  ninety-one  cents.  Of  course  more  than  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars  would  be  needed  the  next  year. 
The  Treasurer  brought  the  case  distinctly  before  the  Board. 
As  to  the  probable  receipts,  he  said  it  had  been  stated  at  the 
last  annual  meeting  that  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  could 
be  raised,  but  it  had  not  been ;  and  the  Committee  saw  no 
reason  to  suppose  an  equal  amount  would  be  raised  in  the 
year  to  come  ;  and  they  considered  it  unsafe  to  go  on  unless 
means  were  devised  for  a  substantial  increase  of  the  funds. 
"  As  the  times  are  now,  we  can  go  on,"  continued  Mr.  Hill ; 
17 


130  THE  BOARD. 

"  but  if  money  should  be  greatly  in  demand,  and  this  debt 
be  suddenly  called  for,  we  might  be  in  most  unpleasant  cir- 
cumstances. Our  credit,  a  most  precious  jewel,  that  can  not 
be  too  carefully  preserved,  would  be  endangered,  and  there 
would  be  no  relief  but  in  falling  back  on  the  permanent 
funds,  which,  by  our  charter,  may  not  be  touched  for  the 
ordinary  expenses  of  the  Board.  And  many  of  us  have 
doubts  whether  it  is  right  for  a  religious  institution  to  contract 
debts  to  a  large  amount.  With  the  prospect  before  us  that 
the  receipts  will  fall  far  short  of  the  appropriations,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  debt,  we  are  ready  to  ask,  What  shall  be 
done  ?  "  He  conjured  the  members  to  speak  out,  and  tell 
what  ought  to  be  done. 

Dr.  William  J.  Armstrong,  the  Home  Secretary,  submitted 
the  views  of  the  Prudential  Committee  on  the  necessity  of 
greater  system  in  efforts  to  raise  the  funds  ;  which  were  ably 
responded  to  by  a  special  committee  through  Chancellor  Wai- 
worth.  A  series  of  resolutions  was  appended  to  the  com- 
mittee's report. 

"  After  the  reading  of  this  paper,"  says  the  Observer, 
"  there  was  a  solemn  and  anxious  pause  of  some  moments. 
The  members  of  the  Board  were  called  on  to  express  their 
views,  but  no  one  appeared  willing  to  break  ground  in  this 
great  emergency.  The  wisdom  of  the  wise  seemed  to  fail, 
while  all  were  disposed  to  ask,  '  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have 
_us  to  do  ?  ' 

"The  venerable  Dr.  Yale^ called  the  attention  of  the  Board 
to  a  memorable  declaration,  made  twenty-five  years  ago,  that 
the  energies  of  Christendom,  wisely  directed,  and  attended 
with  the  blessing  of  the  Spirit,  might  send  the  gospel  over  the 
world  in  a  quarter  of  a  century.  '  If  it  were  my  own  expres- 
sion,' said  he, '  I  would  not  make  it ;  but  it  is  not  mine  ;  it 
was  made  by  a  beloved  man  who  has  been  resting  from  his 
labors  twenty  years ;  he  died  in  the  Cherokee  country,  June  7, 
1821.*  Nor  was  it  his  expression  only,  but  that  of  the  Pru- 
dential Committee ;  nor  theirs  merely,  but  it  was  formally 

*  Dr.  Worcester. 


MEETINGS  OP  THE  BOARD.  131 

adopted  by  the  American  Board  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  Septem- 
ber 18,  1816.  Of  the  members  then  present,  only  three  now 
survive  ;  one  [Dr.  Chapin]  is  present  to-day  ;  the  quarter  of  a 
century  is  gone,  and  the  most  of  those  who  made  the  declara- 
tion are  gone  ;  but  the  work  is  not  done.  1  feel  a  pang  of 
sorrow  when  I  reflect  that  since  that  declaration  was  made, 
six  hundred  millions  of  pagans  have  gone  down  to  the  grave.' 

"  Having  said  these  words,  Dr.  Yale  sat  down,  and  the 
silence  was  again  prolonged." 

The  impressive  scene  is  well  remembered.  This  report  was 
made  on  Thursday,  and  the  members  had  begun  somewhat 
to  realize  the  proportions  of  the  impending  evil.  It  was  no 
time  for  rhetoric,  and  none  felt  able  to  propose  a  solution 
of  the  difficulty.  The  silence  was  broken  by  the  Rev.  Chaun- 
cey  Eddy,  one  of  the  general  agents  of  the  Board,  lately  de- 
ceased. He  was  followed  by  Mr.  S.  T.  Armstrong,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Prudential  Committee  already  mentioned,  who  af- 
firmed that  the  Committee  had  acted  in  the  fear  of  God,  and 
in  reference  to  their  responsibility  to  the  Board  ;  and  now  they 
looked  to  the  Board  to  justify  their  conduct,  and  to  furnish  the 
means  for  carrying  on  the  work.  And  unless  they  should 
meet  this  emergency  and  furnish  the  means,  there  was  a  calam- 
ity coming  upon  us,  and  a  shame  to  cover  our  faces  which  no 
vail  could  screen.  The  excellent  remarks  of  Mr.  Hubbard, 


then  chairman  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  are  deserving  of 

remembrance. 

t 

"  Mr.  Hubbard  felt  a  deep  interest  in  the  subject,  as  one  of 
the  Committee.  Agents  who  incur  debts  for  their  principal 
are  often  regarded  as  unfaithful,  and  made  the  subject  of  re- 
buke. And  unless  the  Committee  had  had  good  grounds  for 
the  course  they  had  taken,  they  ought  to  be  rebuked.  He  then 
proceeded  to  show,  from  documentary  history,  that  the  Pru- 
dential Committee  had  been  guided  from  year  to  year  by  the 
intelligent  direction  of  the  Board.  In  1839,  the  debt  was 
nineteen  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy-three  dollars  ;  and 
then  the  Board  advised  that  no  reduction  be  made,  and  that 
no  missionaries  be  detained  who  were  willing  to  be  sent  out. 


132  THE  BOARD. 

In  1840,  the  debt  was  twenty-four  thousand  and  eighty-three 
dollars,  and  the  Committee  were  again  authorized  to  continue 
their  appropriations.  Acting  on  these  instructions,  the  Com- 
mittee had  gone  on  sustaining  the  missions,  and  raising  the 
funds  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  now  find  themselves  in  debt 
fifty-seven  thousand  dollars,  in  consequence  of  doing  what  the 
Board  told  them  to  do.  Suppose  ,we  go  on,  and  do  as  we  are 
told  during  another  year,  while  no  more  is  contributed,  and 
the  debt  is  raised  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Do  you 
suppose  we  will  do  it  ?  I  will  resign  rather  than  do  it.  The 
Committee  feel  the  pressure  of  their  responsibilities.  The 
Secretaries  are  not  able  or  willing  to  bear  it.  Their  energies, 
health,  strength,  are  sinking  under  it.  It  is  their  duty  to  re- 
sign unless  the  Church  comes  up  to  their  aid.  Mr.  Hubbard 
said  the  subject  must  now  be  met  as  a  matter  of  business. 
Votes  and  resolutions  do  not  pay  debts.  They  would  not  meet 
the_drafts  of  this  Board  in  London.  Resolutions  are  not  bills 
of  exchange.  He  enforced  the  necessity  of  preserving  untar- 
nished the  integrity^f  jtli^Board,  let  it  cost  what  it  might. 

t£  He  showed,  with  great  clearness,  how  there  was  no  reason 
to  fear  that  increased  contributions  to  this  cause  would  dimin- 
ish the  receipts  of  other  benevolent  institutions ;  they  would 
«  rise  or  sink  together.  Mr.  Hubbard  went  on  to  demonstrate 
41  the  identity  of  the  missionary  spirit  with  the  religion  of  Christ ; 
remarking,  that  when  a  great  effort  was  made  in  the  city  of 
Hartford  for  foreign  missions,  some  one  said  there  would  be  a 
revival  there  within  a  year.  The  prophecy  was  true.  One 
thousand  souls  were  added  to  the  churches.  Not  that  he  would 
propose  to  purchase  such  blessings,  but  he  believed  they  were 
connected  as  means  and  ends.  There  would  be  no  lack  of 
funds  from  Hartford  the  coming  year  ;  and  if  the  Spirit  was 
poured  on  the  churches  every  where,  we  should  not  come  here 
saying,  we  are  in  debt,  and  know  not  what  to  do.  He  then 
went  on  to  illustrate  his  doctrine  by  reference  to  the  order  of 
nature  in  the  production  of  crops,  &c.,  and  to  quote  the  prom- 
ises of  God,  and  to  show  his  dealings  with  his  people  in  an- 
cient days.  If  we  use  the  means,  God  will  bless  them.  If  we 


MEETINGS   OP   THE   BOARD.  133 

neglect  the  work,  it  will  nevertheless  go  on ;  the  Lord  will 
raise  up  friends,  if  need  be,  from  the  stones  of  the  field ;  but 
we  shall  lose  the  honor  and  happiness  of  cooperating  with  the 
Son  of  God  in  giving  his  gospel  to  the  world.  Those  of  us 
who  can  not  go  personally  to  the  heathen  may  send  others ; 
and  every  man  who  contributes  bears  a  part  with  Christ  in 
this  work.  No  one  is  so  poor  as  not  to  be  able  to  do  some- 
thing. The  lay  members  of  the  Board  should  put  their  shoul- 
der to  the  wheel,  and,  with  the  active  labor  of  all,  the  debt 
might  be  paid." 

The  subject  was  resumed  on  Friday.  There  is  a  permanent 
value  in  the  speech  of  Mr.  Greene,  then  one  of  the  Corre- 
sponding Secretaries,  and  the  reader  will  be  pleased  to  see 
copious  extracts. 

"  As  yet,  through  all  the  remarks  that  had  been  made," 
said  Mr.  Greene,  "  he  saw  no  more  light  than  when  we  com- 
menced our  sessions.  We  have  the  same  means  proposed  as 
in  1838, 1839,  and  1840.  We  have  calls,  appeals,  pledges,  rec- 
ommendations, but  we  are  now  deeper  in  debt  than  ever,  and 
provisions  made  for  an  increase  of  funds  in  time  past  are  not 
adequate  to  the  present  emergency.  The  plans,  and  pledges, 
and  resolutions  are  all  encouraging,  but  there  are  two  or  three 
difficulties  in  the  way. 

"  They  are  not  quick  enough  in  their  operation.  If  our 
system  of  agencies  could  be  greatly  increased,  if  we  could 
cover  the  whole  field  with  them  at  once,  and  they  were  wel- 
comed by  the  churches,  the  work  might  be  done.  But  many 
churches  will  not  admit  agents  among  them.  Some  churches, 
near  to  Boston,  have  refused  to  have  an  agent  sent  to  them. 
A  large  association  has  recently  passed  a  resolution  to  that 
effect,  and  addressed  a  letter  to  the  various  benevolent  societies, 
informing  them  of  the  fact.  We  know,  as  well  as  if  we  saw 
the  result,  what  the  effect  will  be.  There  will  be  a  falling  off 
of  thirty-three  per  cent,  in  their  contributions,  unless  God 
should  in  a  wonderful  manner  pour  out  his  Spirit  on  some  one 
man  among  them,  who  will  see  that  the  work  is  done.  And 
if  we  should  send  a  dozen  more  agents  into  the  field,  the 


134  THE   BOARD. 

churches  would  say  they  were  coming  too  thick  and  too  fast, 
and  would  not  tolerate  them. 

"  But  where  shall  we  find  the  agents  ?  We  have  been  look- 
ing for  a  year  or  more  for  the  right  kind  of  men,  but  we  can 
not  find  them ;  at  least,  those  who  are  willing  to  make  the 
requisite  sacrifices  of  habits  of  study,  family  relations,  and  local 
attachments,  and  who  are,  at  the  same  time,  the  men  we  want. 
We  must  have  those  who  have  a  heart  in  the  work,  and  men 
of  talents  and  tact,  who  are  qualified  for  other  spheres ;  and 
these  are  not  so  easily  found.  We  might  send  men  who  would 
answer  the  purpose  of  a  wooden  clock,  —  to  tell  the  people  the 
time  had  come  to  take  up  a  collection  ;  but  these  are  not  the 
agents  for  us,  or  for  the  people.  It  is  much  easier  to  find  fault 
with  agents  than  it  is  to  find  the  right  kind  of  agents. 

"  In(l&37 /^continued  Mr.  Greene,  "  we  were  compelled  to 
curtail  alTbranches  of  mission  aryjabor.  It  broke  the  health 
and  hearts  of  many  of  our  self-denying  missionaries ;  it  led 
them  to  distrust  the  interest  of  the  churches  at  home  in 
their  support ;  it  brought  the  missionaries  into  discredit  with 
the  heathen,  wrho  saw  them_disbanding  their  schools  and 
reducing  their  stations  ;  but,  worse  than  all  this,  the  Christian 
community  became  familiar  with  the  idea  of  curtailing  mis- 
sionary operations.  No  greater  disaster  than  this  could  befall 
us.  The  Church  has  thought  that  the  missionaries  might  re- 
trench their  expenses,  or  come  home  ,  or  that  the  Prudential 
Committee  might  retrench ;  or,  in  any  great  emergency  into 
which  the  Board  might  come,  that  some  wise  scheme  would 
be  devised,  by  which  they  might  for  a  season  stand  still,  or  go 
back,  without  disgrace  and  disaster.  There  can  be  a  breaking 
up  of  the  missions ;  we  can  disband  the  schools ;  we  can  go 
back  to  where  we  were  in  1810!  But  to  begin  again;  to 
recover  lost  ground ;  to  revive  the  abandoned  work  —  is  not 
so  easy  a  task. 

"  And  few  realize  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  reaching  the 
distant  and  most  expensive  missions  with  orders  of  curtail- 
ment. No  vessel  may  be  ready  to  sail.  After  the  order  is 
dispatched,  some  months  must  elapse  before  it  reaches  the  mis- 


MEETINGS   OF  THE   BOARD.  135 

• 

sion  ;  and  when  it  does,  the  mission  has  laid  out  its  plans  for 
the  year,  has  hired   printers   and  teachers,  established  free 
schools,  contracted  engagements  with  the  natives,  and  made 
known  to  them  its  plans  ;  and  would  you  have  the  faith  of  the  • 
missionaries  dishonored  in  the  eyes  of  the  heathen  ?     Must 
they  break  their  pledges,  and  confess  that  the  Christian  world  \ 
will  not  sustain  their  efforts  to  save  the  perishing  ? 

"  Suppose  our  missionaries,  in  the  East,  who  have  eight  thou- 
sand children  around  them  learning  to  read  the  Bible,  and 
through  whom  they  have  access  to  multitudes  of  natives,  re- 
ceive an  order  to  curtail  their  operations.  They  return  us  the 
question,  'Do  you  want  us  to  send  these  children  back  to 
heathenism  ?  If  we  must,  we  will  do  it.'  But  shall  we,  can 
we,  be  so  hardhearted  or  indifferent  as  to  compel  them  to  do 
it  ?  If  the  Prudential  Committee  are  able  to  make  such  a 
requirement  of  the  missionaries,  they  are  unworthy  to  fill  the 
seats  they  occupy.  Well  did  one  of  the  missionaries  say,  as 
he  disbanded  the  schools  of  five  thousand  children,  and  let 
them  go  back  to  the  embrace  of  heathenism, l  What  an  offer- 
ing to  Swamy ! ' 

"  In  this  crisis,  Mr.  President,  are  we  now  placed.  The  trial  is 
growing  more  and  more  severe  and  perplexing  every  day.  We 
have  heard  much  of  praying  for  the  Spirit,  and  the  answer  to 
our  prayers  has  brought  us  into  these  straits.  God  has  opened 
the  way ;  he  has  given  our  missionaries  an  abundant  entrance 
into  the  fields  of  labor ;  and  the  Church  falls  back !  If  the 
world  was  shut  up  as  it  was  when  Hall  and  Newell  went  out, 
we  could  not  use  the  funds  now  asked,  if  we  had  them.  But 
God  has  opened  the  door  wide,  in  answer  to  prayer,  and  the 
Church  falters.  It  is  true  we  do  not  pray  enough,  or  feel  our 
dependence  on  God  as  we  ought.  But  if  our  prayers  would 
find  acceptance  with  God,  we  must  lay  ourselves  on  the  altar 
to  which  we  come,  or  no  incense  will  go  up. 

"It  has  appeared  strange  to  me,"  continued  Mr.  Greene, 
"  that  a  Church  which  has  come  iip  from  nothing  to  this,  should 
falter  now.  If  in  1810  the  Church  had  said,  '  A  wall  as  high  as 
heaven  is  around  the  heathen  world ;  we  can  not  gain  access 


136  THE  BOARD. 

• 

to  them  ;  they  are  joined  to  idols ;  let  them  alone  ; '  it  would 
not  have  been  strange.  But  now  that  the  world  is  open,  and 
the  heathen  are  casting  away  their  idols,  and  God  calls  us 
to  come  on  and  bear  a  part  with  him  in  the  victory,  that  the 
Church  should  draw  back  is  amazing ! 

"  When  there  were  none  willing  to  go  to  the  heathen,  that 
the  Church  should  be  at  ease,  is  not  so  strange  ;  but  when  our 
missionaries  are  ready  to  go  to  distress,  and  privations,  and 
death,  that  the  Church  should  say, '  We  are  not  willing  to  sus- 
tain you,'  is  indeed  amazing.  Why  is  not  every  one  coming 
up  with  his  thank  offering  for  what  has  already  been  done  ? 
Why  are  we  so  indifferent  about  the  heathen  ?  Why  is  not 
every  heart  broken,  and  every  eye  a  fountain  of  tears  ?  0 ! 
did  we  realize  what  momentous  consequences  hang  on  the 
issue  of  this  meeting,  we  should  feel.  Do  we  think  that  one 
soul  will  have  its  destiny  for  eternity  changed  by  the  decision 
to  which  we  come  ?  Bring  that  soul  here,  and  place  him  in 
the  aisle  of  this  house,  and  no  man  dare  hold  up  his  head,  no 
man  dare  go  to  the  communion  table,  who  has  voted  to  with- 
hold from  that  soul  the  means  of  salvation.  But  we  know,  as 
well  as  we  know  that  we  sit  here,  that  thousands  of  immortal 
souls  are  suspended  on  the  issues  of  this  hour. 

"  It  is  very  solemn  business,  this  consulting  for  the  souls  of 
men,  —  saying  whether  this  and  that  soul  shall  or  shall  not 
have  the  bread  of  eternal  life.  And  yet  there  is  no  other 
light  in  which  the  subject  is  worth  looking  at.  If  this  is  not 
the  true  issue,  call  home  your  missionaries,  appoint  no  more 
officers,  pay  off  your  debt,  stop  all  your  operations,  and  let 
the  heathen  alone." 

Friday  noon,  when  it  is  usual  for  the  Board  to  terminate  its 
sessions,  there  was  a  deeply  interesting  conversation  as  to  the 
necessity  of  prolonging  the  meeting.  After  a  prayer  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Danforth,  the  Board  resolved  to  continue  together 
until  it  should  reach  some  more  favorable  result.  The  session 
in  the  afternoon  can  not  be  adequately  described.  It  was 
unique  in  the  manifestations  of  feeling.  Venerable  men,  of 


MEETINGS  OF  THE  BOARD.  137 

eminent  position,  were  seen  weeping  under  their  irrepressible 
emotions,  in  view  of  the  infinite  interests  that  seemed  in  jeop- 
ardy. At  length  Dr.  Justin  Edwards  asked  whether  the  Pru- 
dential Committee  had  any  thing  more  to  communicate. 
Learning  that  they  had  not,  he  requested  that  the  resolutions 
introduced  by  Chancellor  Walworth,  the  day  before,  might  be 
adopted.  These  had  pledged  the  Corporate  and  Honorary 
members  now  attending  -the  Board,  individually  and  collec- 
tively, to  exert  themselves  to  excite  an  interest  in  others  in 
the  cause  of  missions,  and  to  contribute  liberally  of  their  sub- 
stance to  the  support  of  missions. 

Dr.  Edwards  then  said  he  wanted  something  to  secure  per- 
sonal responsibility ;  and  he  proposed  that  the  roll  be  called, 
and  that  every  member  should  answer  to  three  questions, 
which  were  in  substance  as  follows :  — 

1.  Will  you  increase  your  subscription,  this  year,  at  least 
twenty-five  per  cent,  above  that  of  last  year  ? 

2.  Will  you  endeavor  to  influence  others,  so  far  as  in  your 
judgment  may  be  proper  and  right,  to  do  the  same  ? 

3.  Will  you  come  to  the  meeting  of  this  Board  next  year, 
and  report  what  the  Lord  hath  done  by  you  ?     Or,  if  unable 
to  attend,  will  you  communicate  by  writing  ?     This  proposi- 
tion he  supported  by  a  spirited  and  effective  address. 

"  The  proposition  of  Dr.  Edwards  was  agreed  to,  the  roll 
called,  and  each  member,  both  Corporate  and  Honorary,  who 
was  present,  was  called  upon  to  answer  these  questions ;  and 
nearly  all  promptly  answered  in  the  affirmative  ;  though  some 
few  preferred  not  to  pledge  themselves  explicitly,  some  qual- 
ified their  answers,  and  a  considerable  number  pledged  them- 
selves to  increase  their  subscriptions  fifty  or  one  hundred  per 
cent.  The  Prudential  Committee  were  instructed  to  propound 
these  questions  to  the  absent  members  of  the  Board,  and  also 
to  send  a  circular  letter,  embracing  substantially  the  same,  to 
all  the  churches  which  patronized  the  Board,  whose  ministers 
were  not  members." 

Dr.  Chapin  has  the  important  additional  fact,  in  his  record 
of  the  meeting,  that  those  present,  not  members  of  the  Board, 
18 


138  THE   BOARD. 

were  respectfully  invited  to  answer  the  same  questions,  and 
that  nearly  or  quite  the  whole  assembly  rose  in  an  affirmative 
reply. 

Further  to  insure  the  success  of  this  effort,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Mr.  Hubbard,  it  was  resolved  to  hold  a  special  meeting 
of  the  Board  in  New  York  city  on  the  18th  of  the  following 
January.  Perhaps  it  would  have  been  better  to  have  author- 
ized the  Prudential  Committee  to  call  such  a  meeting,  in  case 
they  should  deem  one  expedient.  The  apparent  necessity  for 
it  had  actually  ceased  when  the  time  arrived,  the  debt  being_ 
then  reduced  two  thirds,  and  in  a  fair  way  for  liquidation. 
The  Prudential  Committee  and  Secretaries  were  in  some  per- 
plexity how  to  prevent  the  meeting  from  being  a  failure ;  but 
it  was  not  such.  Among  the  statements  then  made,  it  was 
said  that  besides  the  responses  forwarded  to  the  Committee  by 
individual  members  of  the  Board,  there  had  been  a  more 
informal,  though  perhaps  not  less  hearty,  response  from  an 
equal  or  greater  number  of  ministers  and  laymen  at  meet- 
ings of  ecclesiastical  bodies  and  auxiliary  societies ;  embra- 
cing one  Synod  and  some  Presbyteries  and  Associations  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  some  in  the  States  of  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Maine.  The  members  had  answered  the  first  two 
of  the  three  questions  proposed  at  the  annual  meeting  with 
great  unanimity.  At  the  annual  meetings  of  nearly  all  the 
auxiliary  societies  in  the  State  -of  Connecticut,  of  eight  in 
Massachusetts,  and  nearly  all  in  Arermont,  —  embracing  most 
of  the  auxiliary  meetings  held  since  the  anniversary  of  the 
Board,  —  the  questions  just  alluded  to  were  put  and  affirma- 
tively responded  to  with  great  promptness  and  unanimity. 

As  one  of  the  consequences  of  the  meeting  at  Philadelphia, 
and  of  the  extended  and  interesting  notices  of  the  same,  the 
meeting  at  Norwich,  in  the  following  year,  was  thronged  ;  and 
from  that  time  the  Board  lias  had  no  occasion  to  lament  the 
want  of  an  audience,  as  well  at  its  business  sessions,  as  at 
those  designed  to  be  of  a  more  popular  character. 

At  the  meeting  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  in  1843,  the  venerable 


MEETINGS   OF   THE   BOARD.  139 

Dr.  Chapin  declined  holding  any  longer  the  office  of  Record- 
ing Secretary.  His  letter,  which  is  of  permanent  interest, 
coming  from  the  last  of  the  original  members  of  the  Board, 
and  from  one  of  the  five  composing  the  meeting  to  which  he 
refers,  is  given  here,  with  a  few  omissions.  It  was  addressed 
to  the  President  of  the  Board. 

The  undersigned  would  respectfully,  through  you,  request 
the  Board  not  to  consider  him  as  a  candidate  for  any  office  in 
its  power  to  confer.  At  the  same  time,  he  trusts  that  it  will 
not  be  inexcusable  presumption  in  him  to  express,  retrospec- 
tively and  in  a  word,  his  devout  wonder  and  joy. 

Thirty-three  years  ago,  a  meeting  of  the  Board  consisted 
of  no  more  than  five  persons,  and  our  much-esteemed  brother 
Noah  Porter,  and  his  excellent  family  and  house,  afforded 
every  accommodation.  That  meeting  was  distinguished  by 
fervency  of  prayer,  strength  of  faith,  and  the  perfection  of 
such  hope  as  Christian  faith  warrants.  At  that  trying  mo- 
ment, however,  the  Board  had  neither  missionaries  nor  money. 
It  seems  quite  remarkable,  too,  that  every  opening  of  access 
to  "  the  dark  places  of  the  earth  "  was  entirely  conjectural  and 
imaginary. 

Just  compare  that  meeting  with  the  experience  of  the 
Board  at  Norwich,  twelve  months  ago.  In  this,  more  than 
four  hundred  names  were  offered  and  received,  of  members 
Corporate  and  Honorary.  Such  a  fact,  combined  with  the 
affectionate  testimony  of  absent  members,  presents  invincible 
proof  of  hearty  friendship  and  zeal  in  thousands,  or  rathor  in 
millions,  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  heavenly  object  to 
which  the  Board  is  religiously  self-consecrated.  Furthermore, 
truly  encouraging  and  animating  is  the  evidence  —  in  numer- 
ous and  widely-separated  stations  selected,  in  many  missions 
established,  and  in  the  great  success  realized — -that  Christ 
superintends,  approves,  and  blesses  the  benevolent  enterprise. 

The  undersigned  assumes  leave  to  say,  that,  through  inex- 
haustible grace,  he  feels  no  measured  satisfaction  in  the  clear 
anticipation  of  a  speedy  union  with  the  glorified  spirits  of 
Treadwell,  and  Lyman,  and  Spring,  and  Dwight,  and  Worces- 


140  THE   BOARD. 

ter,  and  Evarts,  and  their  cotemporaries  and  successors. 
Allow  him  to  add,  that  while  his  probationary  life  and  faculties 
are  continued,  his  unceasing  and  affectionate  prayer  will  be, 
that  Zion's  King  may  promote  human  well-being  and  Jeho- 
vah's praise,  by  annually  increasing  the  means  of  the  Board, 
by  wisely  directing  its  measures,  and  by  crowning  its  benev- 
olent efforts  with  the  salvation  of  the  world. 

CALVIN  CHAPIN. 

The  attendance  at  Worcester  in  1844  was  very  large,  owing 
to  its  being  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  missionary  population. 
There  were  present  eighty-seven  Corporate  and  five  hundred 
and  seventeen  Honorary  members  ;  and  of  patrons,  male  and 
female,  a  far  greater  number.  Two  churches  were  filled  with 
the  communicants  on  Thursday.  Many  clergymen  and  others, 
not  being  able  to  find  seats,  assembled  in  still  another  church 
for  prayer. 

The  first  time  in  which  the  Board  is  known  to  have  decided 
a  disputed  question  by  a  call  of  the  roll  of  members,  and  the 
formal  response  of  "  Yea  "  or  "  Nay,"  was  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
in  the  year^l845/)  It  was  upon  the  adoption  of  a  report  on 
the  subject  of  slaveholding  in  churches  under  the  care  of  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Board,  made  by  a  committee  appointed  the 
previous  year.  There  have  been  only  two  other  occasions  on 
which  this  method  was  resorted  to,  and  those  were  in  connec- 
tion with  the  same  subject  —  at  Hartford  in  1854,  and  Phila- 
delphia in  1859.  The  reader  is  referred,  for  the  more  impor- 
tant proceedings  of  the  Board  in  relation  to  this  matter,  to  the 
minutes  of  the  annual  meetings  at  Brooklyn  in  1845,  Boston 
in  1848,  Hartford  -in  1854,  Utica  in  1855,  and  Philadelphia 
in  1859. 

The  minutes  of  the  meeting  in  1848  contain  a  letter  from 
the  Rev.  David  Greene,  declining  a  reelection  as  Correspond- 
ing Secretary,  in  consequence  of  impaired  health.  From  this 
letter  it  will  be  proper  to  make  the  following  extract :  — 

I  must  be  permitted  to  say,  that  during  the  almost  twenty- 
one  years  of  my  official  connection  with  the  Board,  —  a  period 


MEETINGS   OF   THE   BOARD.  141 

extending  over  more  than  half  the  Board's  history  from  its 
organization,  and  a  longer  period  than  any  other  executive 
officer  has  been  connected  with  it,  except  the  present  Treas- 
urer and  the  senior  Corresponding  Secretary,  —  it  has  been  my 
happiness  to  be  associated  intimately  with  the  present  Treas- 
urer, six  persons  in  the  office,  of  Secretary,  and  fourteen  as 
members  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  six  of  whom  have  been 
removed,  as  we  doubt  not,  to  the  heavenly  rest ;  and  I  would 
here  record,  with  thankfulness  to  God,  that  in  all  the  meet- 
ings for  business  held  during  this  whole  period,  (and  they  have 
been,  on  the  average,  more  than  one  a  week,)  and  in  all  our 
mutual  private  intercourse,  there  has  never  been,  so  far  as  I 
have  reason  to  believe,  one  offensive  word,  one  uncourteous 
act,  or  one  unkind  feeling.  Though  often  differing,  of  course, 
in  opinion  on  some  of  the  many  delicate  and  perplexing  sub- 
jects which  have  come  up  for  discussion  and  action,  in  feeling 
all  without  a  single  exception  have  been  harmonious  and  fra- 
ternal. The  scenes  of  prayer  and  anxious  consultation  and 
wearisome  labor,  passed  with  these  brethren  in  the  committee 
room  and  in  the  private  apartments  of  the  Missionary  House, 
have  made  impressions  which  no  other  scenes,  nor  time  itself, 
can  efface.  From  all  my  respected  and  beloved  fellow-laborers 
there,  including  the  Prudential  Committee,  I  have  received 
unvarying  kindness  and  forbearance.  A  willingness  to  share 
in  and  lighten  each  other's  burdens  has  ever  characterized  the 
relations  and  intercourse  there.  For  all  this  they  have  my 
hearty  thanks,  as  they  shall  ever  have  my  affectionate  remem- 
brance, my  sympathy,  and  my  prayers. 

Justice  requires  me  further  to  say,  that  I  feel  confident 
that  the  interests  of  the  Board  are  safe  in  their  hands.  From 
their  systematic  and  laborious  attention  to  the  business  intrust- 
ed to  them,  their  singleness  of  aim,  and  their  prayerfulness, 
the  divine  guidance  and  blessing  will  not  be  withheld.  Borne 
down  with  burdens,  responsibilities,  and  anxieties,  which  those 
who  have  not  participated  in  them  can  but  poorly  appreciate, 
and  oftentimes  grieved  and  weakened  by  the  suspicions,  cen- 
sures, and  counteraction  of  brethren,  wbose  wishes  it  would 
be  far  more  easy  and  pleasant  to  conform  to  than  to  contra- 


142  THE   BOARD. 

vene  by  pursuing  another  course,  which  a  knowledge  of  the 
facto  and  bearings  of  a  case  and  a  single  regard  to  the  inter- 
ests intrusted  to  them  demand,  I  most  earnestly  commend  them 
to  the  prayers,  the  sympathy,  the  confidence,  and  the  coopera- 
tion of  all  the  friends  of  missions ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that 
the  more  fully  their  motives  and  proceedings  are  understood, 
the  more  cheerfully  will  this  sympathy,  confidence,  and  cooper- 
ation be  accorded  to  them. 

No  one  can  read  the  speech  of  the  Secretary,  already  quoted, 
without  being  impressed  with  the  great  loss  which  the  Board 
experienced  on  this  occasion.  The  effects  of  a  railroad  col- 
lision created  the  necessity.  Having  retired  upon  a  farm, 
Mr.  Greene  is  still  living  in  the  midst  of  his  numerous  family, 
and  takes  an  unabated  interest  in  the  progress  of  the  Redeem- 
er's kingdom. 

The  meeting  at  Pittsfield,  in  the  year  1849,  is  known  to 
have  been  preceded  by  an  extraordinary  amount  of  prayer, 
owing  to  a  prevalent  anxiety  lest  alienating  discussions  should 
arise  ;  and  it  will  be  remembered  by  those  who  were  present, 
as  a  season  of  the  most  elevated  Christian  enjoyment.  Other 
meetings  had  been  more  fully  attended,  and  took  a  deeper  hold 
on  the  feelings  and  sympathies  by  reason  of  some  question  of 
general  and  absorbing  interest ;  but  on  no  previous  occasion 
had  there  been  such  a  constant,  delightful  commingling  of  the 
sweetest,  tenderest  emotions  of  the  Christian  heart.  The  re- 
flection often  arose  in  many  a  breast,  We  are  sitting  in  heav- 
enly places  in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  first  meeting  beyond  the  Alleghanies  was  in  the  year 
1853,  at  Cincinnati.  There  were  fears  that  comparatively  few 
of  the  Corporate  members  would  be  present,  on  account  of  the 
distance  and  the  expense  of  the  journey.  But  there  were  for- 
ty-seven ;  twenty-six  from  New  England,  and  nine  from  New 
York  and  New  Jersey.  Twelve  were  from  the  Western  States. 
One  hundred  and  four  of  the  hundred  and  eighty  Honorary 
members  were  from  that  side  of  the  mountains.  Not  till  1843 
had  one  of  these  anniversaries  been  held  as  far  west  as  Roch- 
ester, and  not  till  1847  was  it  as  far  as  Buffalo.  And  what 


MEETINGS  OF  THE  BOARD.  143 

were  those  three  cities,  and  where  indeed  was  the  West,  when 
the  Board  was  organized  ?  There  has  since  been  a  successful 
meeting  at  Detroit,  and  the  next  is  appointed  at  Cleveland. 
The  forty-fifth  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  at  Hartford,  in 
1854,  was  perhaps  the  largest  ever  held,  save  the  fiftieth.  Nine- 
ty-nine Corporate  and  five  hundred  and  ninety-six  Honorary 
members  were  actually  enrolled.  There  was  a  greater  number 
of  members  at  Boston  in  1848,  but  not  so  many  persons  com- 
mended to  the  hospitality  of  families  in  the  city  and  vicinity. 
At  this  meeting,  Henry  Hill,  Esq.,  having  reached  the  age  of 
sixty,  and  having  served  thirty-two  years  as  Treasurer,  declined 
a  reelection.  In  his  letter  to  the  President  he  states,  that 
when  he  entered  on  his  official  duties  in  1822,  the  annual  re- 
ceipts were  about  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  the  whole  amount 
in  the  previous  twelve  years  was  little  more  than  three  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  The  annual  receipts,  at  the  date  of  his 
letter,  exceeded  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the  sum 
total  was  over  six  millions.  The  salary  of  the  Treasurer,  de- 
ducting his  donations  to  the  Board,  had  averaged  less  than 
fourteen  hundred  dollars.  This  was  below  his  necessary  ex- 
penses ;  but  he  had  declined  receiving  more,  though  often 
kindly  urged  to  do  so,  having  an  income  on  property  acquired 
previous  to  his  connection  with  the  Board.  His  letter  concludes 
thus :  "  A  female,  connected  with  the  Gaboon  mission,  on  her 
death-bed  gave  to  the  Board  about  fifty  dollars,  as  a  dying 
thank  offering  for  having  had  the  privilege  of  laboring  thirteen 
years  on  the  shores  of  Western  Africa.  With  the  same  spirit, 
as  I  would  hope,  and  in  testimony  of  my  continued  confidence 
and  interest,  the  Board  will  please  accept  the  inclosed  dona- 
tion, which  I  also  make  as  a  thank  offering  that  I  have  been 
so  long  allowed  to  serve  the  Board  as  its  Treasurer."  The 
check  was  for  two  thousand  dollars. 

The  visit  of  a  deputation  to  the  missions  in  India  in  1854-5, 
which  will  be  spoken  of  in  the  chapter  on  deputations,  gave 
rise  to  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board  at  Albany,  in  March, 
1856.  Misapprehensions  had  arisen,  at  the  annual  meeting  in 
the  preceding  autumn,  as  to  the  proceedings  in  India,  and  the 


144  THE  BOARD. 

Prudential  Committee  was  requested  to  call  the  Board  together 
when  the  deputation  should  have  returned.  The  special  meet- 
ing was  necessarily  held  in  the  most  inclement  season  of  the 
year  ;  and  its  size,  while  evincing  an  apprehension  that  grave 
errors  had  been  committed,  showed  the  strong  hold  of  the 
cause  upon  the  best  feelings  of  the  community.  Eighty-two 
Corporate  and  at  least  two  hundred  Honorary  members  were 
in  attendance.  A  special  committee  of  thirteen,  appointed  on 
this  occasion,  presented  a  printed  report  to  the  Board  at  its 
next  annual  meeting  in  Newark,  the  main  result  of  which  will 
be  stated  in  the  chapter  treating  on  deputations. 

In  the  year  1857,  at  the  meeting  in  Providence,  the  Hon. 
Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  President  of  the  Board,  retired  from 
office  on  account  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  Trom  its  connection  with 
the  Board.  In  a  letter  to  the  Prudential  Committee  and  Sec- 
retaries, subsequent  to  the  meeting,  the  esteemed  and  beloved 
President,  speaking  in  behalf  of  that  branch  of  the  missionary 
community,  as  well  as  for  himself,  thus  gave  expression  to 
his  feelings :  — 

In  parting  from  you,  I  feel  as  a  child  parting  from  a  ven- 
erated and  beloved  mother.  Like  a  mother  you  have  cher- 
ished us,  when  we  were  few  and  feeble.  You  took  us  under 
the  wings  of  your  care,  and  linked  our  interests  together.  We 
thank  you  for  all  your  kindness.  We  thank  God  for  the  pre- 
cious seasons  of  Christian  privilege  tlrat  we  have  enjoyed  to- 
gether. We  have  often  gone  up  to  the  heights  of  Zion,  and 
looked  down  upon  this  dark  world,  and  traced  the  footsteps  of 
our  wonder-working  God  and  Redeemer.  And  from  these 
"  heavenly  places"  we  have  together  hailed  the  first  streaks  of 
the  morning,  the  sure  tokens  of  that  coming  glory  which  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness  shall  shed  upon  this  benighted  and  sin- 
stricken  world.  These  hallowed  seasons  will  be  for  grateful 
thanksgiving  in  that  blessed  world  where  partings  never  grieve, 
and  the  past  shall  be  recalled  only  to  augment  the  pleasures 
of  a  sanctified  memory. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


THE  PRUDENTIAL   COMMITTEE  —  PLACES  OF  BUSINESS. 


Members.  —  Constitution  of  the  Body.  —  Growth  of  the  Meetings. —  Attendance  of 
Executive  Officers.  —  Manner  of  doing  Business.  —  Duties  of  the  Committee. — 
Place  of  Business,  1821. —Pressure  of  Duties.  —  Place  of  Business,  1822.— New 
Laborers.  — Place  of  Business,  1826.  —  Destroyed  by  Fire.  — Place  of  Business,  1830. 
—  The  Missionary  House.  —  Its  Cost  and  Advantages. 


THE  PRUDENTIAL  COMMITTEE. 

THE  Prudential  Committee  has  now  twelve  members,  one 
of  whom  is  from  the  city  of  New  York,  and  one  from  Brook- 
lyn. No  member  receives  compensation  for  his  services.  The 
stated  meetings  are  held  weekly,  on  Tuesday,  at  three  o'clock, 
P.  M.,  and  occupy  the  afternoon.  Five  members  are  a  quorum 
for  business.  There  is  a  remarkable  uniformity  in  the  attend- 
ance. Of  the  eight  from  Boston  and  its  vicinity  who  were  in 
the  country,  the  past  year  for  instance,  the  average  attendance 
was  seven  at  the  fifty-two  meetings.  Gentlemen  in  full  city 
business  will  appreciate  this  sacrifice  of  time,  which  was  cheer- 
fully made. 

The  meetings  of  the  Prudential  Committee  had  a  very  small 
beginning.  There  were  but  three  members  at  the  outset  — 
Dr.  Worcester,  of  Salem,  who  was  the  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary, and  Dr.  Spring  and  Mr.  Bartlet,  both  of  Newburyport. 
For  years  the  meetings  were  migratory.  Only  two  are 
recorded  in  1810,  the  same  number  in  the  second  year,  six  in 
the  third,  two  in  the  fourth,  and  four  in  the  fifth.  There 
were  eight  meetings  in  1815,  ten  in  1816,  twelve  in  1817,  the 
same  number  in  1818,  and  nineteen  in  1819,  which  was  the 
year  preceding  Dr.  Worcester's  death.  Mr.  Evarts  camo  into 
the  Committee  in  1812,  and  Dr.  Morse  in  1815.  Both  resided 

19  (H5) 


146  THE   BOARD. 

in  Charlestown.  Until  the  close  of  1816,  the  places  of  meet- 
ing seem  to  have  been  casual.  Newburyport  and  Salem  had 
each  eight  of  the  thirty-four  meetings,  Charlestown  seven, 
Boston  and  Andover  four  each ;  the  remaining  three  were  at 
Worcester  and  Hartford,  in  connection  with  meetings  of  the 
Board.  Mr.  Reed,  of  Marblehead,  entered  the  Committee  in 
1818,  and  Dr.  Woods,  of  the  Audover  Theological  Seminary, 
in  1819.  About  that  time,  the  meetings  began  to  be  held 
usually  in  Boston.  At  this  early  period,  when  principles  were 
unsettled,  when  the  business  was  tentative  and  not  usually 
urgent,  when  the  members  were  scattered,  and  the  time  for 
railroads  had  not  come,  the  Secretary  would  often  seek  a  solu- 
tion of  his  missionary  problems  by  correspondence,  or  by  con- 
ference with  individual  members  whom  he  chanced  to  meet. 
The  meetings  began  to  be  held  weekly  in  the  year  1832. 

The  meetings  have  been  attended  for  many  years  by  the 
Corresponding  Secretaries,  the  Treasurer,  and  the  Editor  of 
the  monthly  publications,  in  virtue  of  their  office,  but  they  do 
not  vote.  The  Chairman  is  appointed  from  among  the  mem- 
bers, and  the  Senior  Secretary  has  been  Clerk.  A  long  table, 
in  the  center  of  the  committee  room,  allows  the  whole  seven- 
teen to  gather  around  it,  each  one  with  pen  and  paper  before 
him.  After  an  opening  prayer,  and  the  reading  of  the  min- 
utes of  the  previous  meeting,  for  correction  (if  need  be)  and 
approval,  the  Foreign  Secretary,  the  Home  Secretary,  the  Sec- 
retary for  New  York  City  (if  present),  and  the  Treasurer,  are 
called  upon  successively  to  bring  forward  the  business  needing 
attention  in  their  several  departments  They  are  expected  to 
state  it  clearly,  and  to  be  prepared  for  a  concise  and  accurate 
presentation  of  all  the  documents  and  facts  needful  for  its 
elucidation.  This  is  their  business ;  and  when  this  is  done, 
the  Chairman  calls  upon  each  person  present  to  express  his 
opinion  ;  then  gives  his  own ;  and,  should  a  result  have  been 
reached,  he  declares  it,  or  a  formal  vote  is  taken. 

The  discussions,  in  this  small  deliberative  body,  are  in  the 
conversational  tone,  —  the  members  being  seated,  —  are  sel- 
dom protracted,  almost  never  controversial.  There  is  often  a 


THE   PRUDENTIAL   COMMITTEE.  147 

diversity  of  opinion  at  the  outset,  and  a  point  is  regarded  as 
unsettled  until  there  is  a  substantial  unity.  If  there  be  not, 
the  case  is  reserved  for  a  future  meeting,  perhaps  referred  to 
a  sub-committee  for  a  written  report.  The  large  number  of 
reports  now  on  file  form  a  valuable  repository  of  facts  and 
experience.  Sometimes  these  reports  are  extended  and  elab- 
orate. Where  there  are  such  diversity  of  mind  and  disposition 
and  such  varied  and  delicate  interests,  as  in  ah  extended  sys- 
tem of  foreign  missions,  intricate  cases  must  needs  arise, 
requiring  careful  investigation  and  nice  discrimination.  A 
single  case  has  been  known  to  occupy  the  chairman  of  a  sub- 
committee all  the  time  he  could  spare  for  it,  which  was  a  por- 
tion of  almost  every  day,  for  some  five  or  six  weeks.  Such 
cases,  however,  occur  but  seldom.  It  might  be  hard  to  find  a 
body  of  Christian  men  in  our  own  land,  of  different  profes- 
sions, and  so  largely  occupied  with  business  of  their  own,  who 
devote  such  an  amount  of  time  to  the  oversight  of  a  benev- 
olent enterprise.  The  by-law,  prescribing  their  duties,  is  as 
follows :  "  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Prudential  Committee 
to  carry  into  effect  all  resolutions  and  orders  of  the  Board, 
the  execution  of  which  shall  not  have  been  assigned  to  some 
other  committee ;  to  cause  the  more  inviting  fields  for  mis- 
sionary enterprise  to  be  explored,  if  necessary  ;  to  appoint  the 
places  where  missions  shall  be  attempted,  and  to  determine 
the  scale  upon  which  they  shall  be  conducted,  and  to  superin- 
tend them  ;  to  appoint,  instruct,  and  direct  all  the  missionaries 
of  the  Board  ;'  to  prescribe  where  the  Treasurer  shall  deposit 
the  moneys  of  the  Board,  and  the  times  and  modes  of  invest- 
ments and  remittances  ;  to  draw  orders  authorizing  the  pay- 
ment of  moneys  from  the  treasury ;  to  ascertain  the  state  of 
the  treasury  at  least  twice  a  year,  and  as  much  oftener  as  they 
see  cause ;  to  appoint  agents  at  home  and  abroad,  with  such 
powers  and  duties  as  they  may  think  are  demanded  by  the 
best  interests  of  missions ;  and,  generally,  to  perform  all 
duties  necessary,  in  their  opinion,  to  promote  the  objects  of  the 
Board  ;  provided  the  same  shall  not  be  contrary  to  any  resolu- 
tion or  by-law  of  the  Board,  nor  to  the  Act  of  Incorporation. 


148  THE   BOARD. 

They  shall  annually  elect  a  chairman  and  clerk,  the  former  of 
whom  shall  keep  the  bond  of  the  Treasurer." 

PLACES  FOR  TRANSACTING  THE  BUSINESS. 

Coming  from  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  in  1821, 
shortly  after  the  decease  of  Dr.  Worcester,  to  assist  Mr. 
Evarts  during  a  vacation,  the  writer  found  that  the  executive 
business  of  the  Board  was  all  transacted  in  one  small  room  in 
the  basement  of  Mr.  Evarts's  dwelling  house.  Here  that  inval- 
uable man  was  well-nigh  prostrated  by  the  combined  duties  of 
Treasurer,  Corresponding  Secretary,  and  Editor.  It  seems, 
indeed,  looking  back  after  near  forty  years,  that  all  these 
duties  could  not,  at  that  time,  have  equaled  those  of  either 
one  of  the  departments  in  the  present  secretaryship.  But 
this  view  is  in  some  respects  illusory.  The  missionary  work 
is  peculiar  in  its  nature,  and  these  pioneers  had  every  thing  to 
originate,  learn,  and  settle.  There  are  embarrassments  enough 
now,  and  they  are  painful  enough,  and  doubtless  always  will 
be,  for  the  trial  of  faith  and  patience  ;  but  there  has  been 
great  progress  in  simplifying  and  systematizing  the  modes 
of  operation.  Problems  and  cases  which  caused  those  men 
protracted  and  anxious  deliberations,  have  long  since  been 
settled,  and  now  serve  as  precedents,  like  adjudicated  cases 
in  courts  of  law. 

In  the  spring  of  1822,  the  writer  was  required  to  spend  a 
few  months  at  what  were  then  called  the  Missionary  Rooms, 
while  Mr.  Evarts  visited  the  Indian  missions.  These  Rooms 
were  in  the  second  story  of  a  tenement  in  what  is  now  known 
as  Cornhill.  The  Correspondence  and  Treasury  had  each  a 
separate  apartment,  and  the  editing  was  connected  with  the 
former,  which  devolved  upon  the  writer ;  while  Mr.  Levi 
Chamberlain,  an  intelligent  and  successful  young  merchant 
of  Boston,  who  had  relinquished  his  business  for  the  mission- 
ary service,  had  the  temporary  charge  of  the  latter.  Mr. 
Chamberlain's  health  requiring  a  milder  climate,  he  joined 
the  Sandwich  Islands  mission  in  1823,  and,  until  his  death  in 


PLACES   OF   BUSINESS.  149 

1849,  was  the  able  and  faithful  secular  agent  in  that  mission. 
These  two  young  men  were  of  course  under  the  general  over- 
sight of  the  Prudential  Committee ;  but  it  illustrates  the 
infancy  of  the  work,  that,  for  half  a  year,  it  could  be  com- 
mitted to  such  inexperienced  hands.  Mr.  Evarts  returned  in 
the  following  summer.  Henry  Hill,  Esq.,  entered  upon  his 
long  and  faithful  service  as  Treasurer  in  the  autumn.  Mr. 
Hill  was  born  in  Newburgh,  N.  Y. ;  received  his  mercantile 
training  in  the  city  of  New  York  ;  and,  after  one  or  two  busi- 
ness visits  to  Europe,  he  was  for  some  years  a  merchant  in 
Chili.  Having  acquired  a  moderate  competency,  he  returned 
to  the  United  States,  resolved  to  devote  himself  to  a  life  bear- 
ing more  directly  on  the  cause  of  Christ.  The  knowledge  of 
this  fact  led  to  his  election  by  the  Board.  At  that  time,  also, 
the  writer,  having  completed  his  course  in  the  Seminary, 
became  a  permanent  laborer  at  the  Missionary  Rooms. 

The  building  of  an  edifice  in  Hanover  Street,  in  1826,  for 
the  church  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher, 
furnished  more  convenient  apartments  for  the  Board.  These 
were  in  the  basement  story,  and  were  secured  to  the  Board, 
by  the  liberality  of  a  few  individuals,  free  of  rent  for  five 
years.  The  rooms  were  three  in  number,  one  for  the  Treas- 
ury, and  two  for  the  Correspondence ;  and  into  them  the 
offices  of  the  Board  were  removed  in  the  spring  of  that  year. 
Early  in  the  morning  of  February  1,  1830,  the  Hanover-street 
Church  was  consumed  by  fire.  A  part  of  the  property  of  the 
Board  was  insured  ;  and  through  the  kindness  of  Providence, 
and  the  laborious  exertions  of  friends,  nearly  all  the  account 
books,  records,  correspondence,  and  other  valuable  papers  in 
the  offices  of  the  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  which  no  insurance 
could  have  made  good,  were  saved  ;  together  with  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  the  Annual  Reports,  and  of  the  back  vol- 
umes of  the  Missionary  Herald. 

The  offices  were  again  removed  to  Cornhill ;  and  here  the 
business  of  the  Board  was  transacted  until  the  erection  of 
the  Missionary  House  on  Pemberton  Square,  in  the  year  1838. 

The  Prudential  Committee  had  increasingly  felt  the  need 


150  THE   BOARD. 

of  a  house  to  be  owned  by  the  Board,  and  better  adapted  to 
its  business.  A  record  of  the  desirableness  of  such  a  building 
appears  as  far  back  as  the  year  1823.  The  national  Bible, 
Tract,  and  Sunday  School  Societies  had  erected  such  buildings. 
The  inconvenience  and  loss  resulting  from  repeated  removals 
was  not  small,  and  must  needs  increase  with  the  property  at 
the  Rooms.  The  general  depression  of  business  in  the  year 
1887  afforded  a  good  opportunity  for  building,  since  the 
expense  was  not  to  be  met  by  donations,  nor  by  a  loan,  but 
simply  by  a  change  in  the  investment  of  a  portion  of  the  per- 
manent funds.  The  lot  and  building  cost  some  thousands 
less  than  they  would  have  done  before,  or  probably  at  any 
time  since.  The  Missionary  House  stands  on  one  of  the  cor- 
ners of  Pemberton  Square,  and  is  built  of  brick,  thirty-one 
feet  by  fifty,  with  two  one-story  offsets  in  the  rear,  some  forty 
feet  in  length.  The  hight  of  the  building  is  three  stories, 
exclusive  of  basement  and  attic ;  and  it  is  economically 
and  neatly  finished  throughout.  In  the  basement  are  offices 
for  the  agent  for  publications,  and  the  purchasing  agent, 
with  storerooms  for  every  kind  of  article  on  the  way  to  the 
several  missions,  and  also  an  ample  safe-room  for  the  ar- 
chives. The  offices  of  the  Treasurer  and  Corresponding  Secre- 
taries are  in  the  first  and  second  stories,  each  having  a  room 
of  convenient  size,  with  a  small  retiring  room  contiguous 
to  it ;  and  there  is  a  safe  in  each  of  these  stories.  The 
Library  and  Cabinet  occupy  the  third  story,  and  the  meetings 
of  the  Prudential  Committee  are  held  in  the  Library,  which  is 
also  called  the  Committee  Room.  The  attic  is  mostly  devoted 
to  pamphlets,  chiefly  publications  of  the  Board .  The  Mission- 
ary House  is  central,  quiet,  airy,  and  near  the  great  horse-car 
lines  running  through  and  out  of  the  city.  The  cost  of  the 
house  and  land  was  twenty-two  thousand  six  hundred  and 
thirteen  dollars  and  sixty-one  cents.  The  house,  besides 
greatly  facilitating  the  operations  of  the  executive  officers  in 
their  various  departments,  has  given  to  the  Board  the  appear- 
ance of  stability  and  permanence,  and  has  had  the  effect  to 
strengthen  its  hold  on  the  public  mind,  and  also  its  credit  in 
the  commercial  world. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

CORRESPONDENCE  —  LIBRARY  — .  CABINET. 

Early  and  Later  Correspondence.  —  Postage.  —  Manuscript  Volumes.  —  Copying  of 
Letters.  —  Advantage  of  this  Practice.  —  Freedom  of  the  Correspondence. —  Respon- 
sibilities of  the  Secretaries.  —  Instructions  to  Missionaries.  —  Number  of  Secretaries. 
—  Library  of  the  Board.— Missionary  Cabinet. 

THE  CORRESPONDENCE. 

THE  correspondence  of  the  Board  is  carried  on  by  the  Sec- 
retaries and  Treasurer.  The  District  Secretaries  have,  of 
course,  a  correspondence  of  their  own.  Thirty  years  ago,  the 
cost  of  postage  at  the  Missionary  House  was  nearly  six  hun- 
dred dollars,  very  little  of  which  was  for  sea-letters,  —  those 
to  missions  in  foreign  lands  being  nearly  all  sent  by  ship  from 
the  port  of  Boston,  and  the  greater  part  received  from  them 
being  first  deposited  on  their  arrival  in  the  Boston  post  office. 
There  were  then  no  ocean  mail-packets,  and  of  course  there 
was  no  ocean  postage. 

Seven  years  later,  the  number  of  sheets  received  from  the 
missions  in  one  year  exceeded  fifteen  hundred.  The  num- 
ber of  letters  in  the  domestic  correspondence,  during  a 
year,  was  about  twelve  hundred.  The  annual  postage  on 
letters  and  pamphlets  was  nearly  a  thousand  dollars,  though 
a  large  portion  of  the  letters  from  beyond  sea  was  subject  to 
little  or  no  charge. 

For  many  years  after  the  Board  commenced  its  operations, 
the  rates  of  postage  were  high.  Up  to  July,  1845,  a  single 
sheet,  under  thirty  miles,  cost  six  cents ;  from  thirty  to  eighty 
miles,  ten  cents ;  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles, 
twelve  and  a  half  cents ;  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  four 
hundred  miles,  eighteen  and  three  fourths  cents  ;  and  over 

(151) 


152 


THE  BOARD. 


four  hundred  miles,  twenty-five  cents.  From  1845  to  1851, 
the  postage  was  five  cents  the  half  ounce  under  three  hundred 
miles,  and  ten  cents  for  a  greater  distance.  The  present 
standard  of  three  cents  for  any  distance  short  of  three  thou- 
sand miles,  and  six  cents  beyond  that,  was  adopted  in  1851. 
The  postage  on  letters  to  the  missions  beyond  sea,  by  the 
"  overland  "  mails,  is  from  thirty-three  to  forty  cents  for  every 
half  ounce ;  excepting  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  where  it  is 
seventeen  cents.  The  postage,  in  periods  of  ten  years,  was  as 
follows :  — 


First  period,   ....      $330  74 

Second, 3,920  33 

Third 8,270  23 


Fourth 8,215  79 

Fifth 8,951  72 


Total, 


J.688  81 


The  letters  and  other  documents  received,  during  thirteen 
years,  from  the  Armenian  mission  alone,  were  somewhat  more 
than  three  thousand  sheets.  The  proportion  was  not  so  great 
from  the  other  missions.  The  missionaries  are  expected  to 
write  to  the  Missionary  House  on  paper  furnished  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  always  with  a  proper  margin  for  the  binding  of  the 
letters  and  journals.  Manuscripts  of  every  kind  are  bound  in 
volumes  convenient  for  reference,  which  are  deposited  in  a 
room  secure  from  fire,  forming  the  archives  of  the  Board. 
An  inventory  of  the  contents  of  this  room  gives  the  following 
results,  viz. :  — 

Volumes. 

Letters  and  other  Documents  received  from  Missions  and  Missionaries,  157 

Miscellaneous  Foreign  Letters, 4 

Autograph  Letters  from  Officers  of  the  Board,  chiefly  the  Secretaries,  9 

Letters  from  Candidates,  and  Testimonials, 30 

Letters  from  Persons  in  the  United  States, 59 

Documents 17 

Copies  of  Letters,  made  by  letter  press,  to  Missionaries  and  others  in 

Foreign  Lands,     ' 47 

Copies  of  Letters,  made  by  letter  press,  to  the  Indian  Missions,      .     .  22 
Copies  of  Domestic  Letters,  made  by  letter  press,  sent  from  the  Mis- 
sionary House, 58 

Copies  of  Letters  in  Folio  Volumes,  made  by  pen,  viz. :  — 

Foreign  and  Domestic 5 

Domestic  and  Indian, 4 


CORRESPONDENCE.  153 

Volumes. 

Foreign, 4 

Indian, 2 

Domestic, 9 

Agencies, 1 

From  the  Treasurer, 8 

Foreign  Letters,  copied  from  the  letter-press  volumes,  since  the  year 

1837 25 

Instructions  to  Missionaries 1 

Records  of  the  Board,  (including  duplicates  of  the  first  two  volumes,)       6 

Minutes  of  the  Prudential  Committee, 3 

Records  of  the  Prudential  Committee, 11 

Whole  number  of  volumes,  ....  482 

Letters  from  the  Missionary  House  are  always  copied  before 
being  sent.  Since  the  year  1835,  the  copies  have  been  taken 
by  a  press ;  and  the  foreign  letters  are  afterward  fairly  copied 
out  by  hand.  This  is  found  needful  for  a  distinct  and  perma- 
nent record  ;  and  the  advantages  of  it  to  the  Board  have 
appeared  on  several  occasions  ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  investi- 
gations of  the  special  committee  on  the  proceedings  of  the 
deputation  to  the  India  missions.  That  committee  reported 
themselves  to  have  read  twenty-five  hundred  pages  of  the  cor- 
respondence, extending  through  many  years. 

As  all  that  is  written  from  the  Missionary  House,  and  all 
that  is  received  there,  are  thus  preserved  and  arranged,  it 
will  be  readily  seen  that  there  is  an  historical  value  in  the 
collection. 

The  correspondence  of  the  Secretaries  with  particular  mis- 
sions has  been  more  or  less  extended,  at  different  times,  ac- 
cording to  circumstances  ;  and  great  freedom  has  always  been 
awarded  to  them  in  reasoning  upon  all  subjects,  on  which 
they  believed  it  useful  to  correspond  with  their  brethren,  — 
always  observing  the  radical  distinction  between  suggestions, 
opinions,  and  arguments,  on  the  one  hand,  and  decisions,  in- 
structions, and  rules,  on  the  other.  The  like  freedom  is 
awarded  to  the  missions  and  missionaries.  On  subjects  resolv- 
able only  by  experience,  an  interchange  of  views  has  sometimes 
extended  through  several  years,  before  the  opinions  of  the 
Prudential  Committee  and  their  brethren  have  become  settled 
20 


154  THE   BOARD. 

and  consentaneous ;  and  not  unfrequently,  as  the  result  of 
this  free  correspondence,  the  sentiments  at  first  entertained  on 
both  sides  have  been  considerably  modified. 

Correspondence  is  very  far  from  having  been  the  whole  duty 
of  the  Secretaries.  Until  within  a  few  years  past,  they  edited 
the  Missionary  Herald.  They  have  always  been  responsible 
for  the  preparation  of  the  Annual  Report,  though  of  late  they 
have  sometimes  had  aid  in  writing  it.  They  have  written  ap- 
peals, circulars,  and  most  of  the  missionary  tracts.  The  whole 
intercourse  with  candidates  for  missionary  employment,  up  to 
the  time  when  their  papers  come  before  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee, belongs  to  the  Secretaries  ;  and  so,  afterward,  until 
their  embarkation.  The  Secretaries  have  also,  at  different 
times,  been  at  great  pains  to  prepare  and  deliver  Instructions, 
on  behalf  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  to  missionaries  about  go- 
ing forth  to  their  several  fields.  The  writing  of  these  has  been 
useful  in  various  ways,  but  especially  as  it  required  a  thorough 
research  into  the  condition  of  the  countries  whither  the  mis- 
sionaries were  going.  The  Instructions  were  usually  delivered 
in  the  presence  of  crowded  assemblies,  in  cities  or  in  central 
places  ;  though  some  of  the  most  elaborate  of  them,  developr 
ing  the  missions  to  the  Oriental  Churches,  were  given  in  the 
presence  of  theological  students  at  some  one  of  the  Semina- 
ries. Dr.  Worcester's  Instructions  to  Messrs.  Parsons  and 
Fisk,  in  the  year  1819,  who  were  then  "  bound  in  spirit  to 
Jerusalem,"  and  also  those  to  the  first  missionaries  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands  in  the  same  year,  are  among  his  most  elo- 
quent productions.  Not  far  from  sixty  of  these  documents 
are  preserved  at  the  Missionary  House,  in  a  printed  or  written 
form.  About  two  thirds  of  them  belong  to  the  period  between 
1830  and  1847.  It  will  suffice  to  give  extracts  from  two  or 
three  of  these  official  documents  when 'treating  of  the  rise  of 
the  missions,  in  the  second  part  of  this  volume.  To  the  Sec- 
retaries it  belongs  to  see  the  numerous  visitors  to  the  Mis- 
sionary House  ;  and  it  is  important  that  they  give  personal 
attention  both  to  missionaries  coming  home  on  a  visit,  and  to 
those  who  are  going  forth  to  their  distant  fields.  It  is,  more- 


LIBRAEY.  155 

over,  their  dtity  and  pleasure  to  give  attention  to  the  returned 
children  of  missionaries  on  their  arrival.  There  are  also 
missionary  conventions  and  meetings  of  auxiliaries,  which  it 
is  often  desirable  for  them  to  attend,  in  connection  with  dis- 
trict secretaries  and  returned  missionaries.  Add  to  this  the 
personal  visits  to  the  missions,  —  of  which  an  account  will  be 
given  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  —  and  the  reader  will  have 
some  idea  of  the  multifarious  and  onerous  duties  connected 
with  the  secretaryship.  Still,  without  a  nearer  view  than 
these  pages  give,  there  can  not  be  an  adequate  impression. 

At  first,  and  until  1832,  there  was  but  one  Corresponding 
Secretary.  An  assistant  was  employed  in  1822,  who  was 
formally  appointed  Assistant  Secretary  in  1824,  and  a  second 
Assistant  Secretary  was  appointed  in  1828.  These  were  really 
the  editors  of  the  Missionary  Herald  ;  and  one  of  them  acted 
as  Assistant  Secretary  for  the  foreign  correspondence,  and 
the  other  for  the  Indian  and  home  correspondence.  They 
were  appointed  Corresponding  Secretaries  in  1832  ;  one  for 
the  foreign  correspondence,  the  other  for  the  Indian,  and  for 
editing  the  Missionary  Herald  ;  and  a  third  Secretary  was 
then  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  home  correspondence. 

In  compliance  with  the  earnest  desire  of  patrons  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  a  Corresponding  Secretary,  to  reside  in  that 
city,  was  appointed  in  1852,  and  the  appointment  has  been 
continued  until  the  present  time.  The  care  of  the  depart- 
ments of  correspondence  is  necessarily  put  upon  the  Secreta- 
ries residing  in  Boston.  There  being  an  Editor  for  the 
monthly  publications,  the  Board  has  now  but  two  Corre- 
sponding Secretaries  in  Boston,  who  respectively  have  charge 
of  the  Foreign  and  Home  Departments. 

LIBRARY  OP  THE  BOARD. 

In  November,  1821,  the  Prudential  Committee  directed, 
that  notice  be  given  of  an  intended  collection  of  a  Missionary 
Library,  and  that  the  public  be  invited  to  contribute  books, 
not  only  for  the  Library,  but  for  the  use  of  the  various  mis- 


156  THE  BOARD. 

sions  of  the  Board.  Such  a  notice  was  given,  and  this  was 
the  first  step  toward  collecting  the  present  Library  of  the 
Board,  which  now  more  than  fills  the  sides  of  the  large 
Committee  Room.  It  is  perhaps  the  most  valuable  collection 
of  works  in  what  may  be  called  the  literature  of  benevolence, 
that  is  any  where  to  be  found.  The  Library  has  ever  been  an 
object  of  interest  to  the  executive  officers.  It  is  largely  made 
up  of  the  reports  and  periodicals  of  benevolent  societies  in 
America  and  Europe,  received  for  the  most  part  by  donation 
or  exchange ;  and  possesses,  of  course,  the  more  important  do- 
mestic and  foreign  serials,  and  the  standard  works  in  mission- 
ary biography,  travels,  and  history.  It  has  been  found  pro- 
motive  of  economy  to  possess  some,  at  least,  of  the  more 
reliable  works  on  the  countries  where  the  Board  had  planted, 
or  was  expecting  to  plant,  its  missions.  One  illustration  of  this 
is  well  remembered.  Many  years  since,  yielding  to  strong 
advice  from  India,  the  Prudential  Committee  went  so  far  as  to 
appoint  two  missionaries  for  commencing  a  new  mission  among 
the  Rajpoots  of  Western  India.  It  was  afterward  deemed 
advisable  to  consult  Lieutenant  Colonel  James  Tod's  Annals 
and  Antiquities  of  the  Central  and  Western  Rajpoot  States, 
ill  two  quarto  volumes,  then  recently  published.  According- 
ly the  work  was  imported  from  England,  and  showed  conclu- 
sively that  a  mission  to  Rajpootaua  would  then  be  premature. 
The  enterprise  was  relinquished,  and  subsequent  events  amply 
proved  the  correctness  of  this  conclusion.  As  an  aid  in  edit- 
ing the  monthly  publications  of  the  Board,  and  in  preparing 
the  annual  reports,  addresses  to  the  public,  and  instructions 
to  missionaries,  as  well  as  in  the  correspondence,  this  Library 
has  been  of  great  value. 

The  collection  is  nearly  complete  in  respect  to  foreign  and 
domestic  Missionary  Societies,  and  Bible,  Tract,  and  other  be- 
nevolent institutions  of  this  country,  and  also  in  the  similar 
publications  of  kindred  societies  in  Great  Britain.  Mr.  Evarts 
bequeathed  to  it  a  valuable  portion  of  his  own  library.  The 
present  number  of  volumes  is  six  thousand  one  hundred  and 
fifty  two. 


CABINET.  157 

THE  CABINET. 

The  Cabinet,  to  which  a  room  in  the  Missionary  House  has 
been  devoted,  is  a  collection  of  articles  from  heathen  coun- 
tries, illustrative  of  their  religions,  manners,  and  customs.  It 
is  open  to  the  public,  and  its  influence  has  doubtless  been  good. 
The  Cabinet  owes  its  existence  more  to  the  care  exercised  to 
preserve  the  articles  of  curiosity  which  have  naturally  come  to 
the  House  from  the  different  missions,  than  to  any  set  purpose 
to  create  such  a  thing.  The  number  of  articles  might  easily 
be  enlarged,  were  there  room  for  more.  The  most  interesting 
object  in  this  room  is  a  revolving  case,  containing  more  than 
four  hundred  daguerreotype,  ambrotype,  and  photographic 
portraits  of  missionaries  and  assistant  missionaries  of  the 
Board,  male  and  female,  many  of  whom  are  now  no  longer  in 
the  land  of  the  living.  This  collection  of  portraits  was  begun 
in  the  year  1845,  and  has  been  attended  with  little  cost. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  FINANCES. 

Obtaining  Funds  the  greatest  Difficulty.  — Means  employed.  —  Worth  of  an  Exigency. — 
Striking  Fact.  —  Receipts  in  Periods  of  Four  Years.  —  In  Periods  of  Ten  Years.  —  Gen- 
eral Summary.  —  Whence  derived.  —  Gradual  Increase.  —  Expenditure  in  Periods  of 
Four  Years.  —  Comparative  View.  —  The  Expenditure  almost  necessarily  Progres- 
sive—  Influence  of  faith  on  Missionary  Confidence.  —  On  the  Cost  of  the  Missions.  — 
Limitation  necessary.  —  Dissent  of  Missionaries.  —  Duty  and  Powers  of  the  Pru- 
dential Committee.  —  Estimates  and  Appropriations. —  New  Responsibilities. — On 
the  Cost  of  the  several  Agencies.  —  Remittances —  Investments.  —  Permanent  Funds. 
—  Indebtedness,  and  the  Responsibility  for  it. —  Not  prevented  by  Ruinous  Reduc- 
tions. 

THE  financial  history  of  the  Board  admits  of  great  expan- 
sion, yet  must  be  briefly  treated.  The  greatest  difficulty  in 
propagating  the  gospel  through  the  world  is  believed  to  be 
obtaining  the  funds.  The  chief  root  of  all  the  evils  that  have 
come  upon  the  enterprise  from  the  beginning  until  now,  has 
been  "  the  love  of  money  "  in  the  professed  people  of  God. 
Who  can  tell  how  much  of  thought,  feeling,  and  labor,  of 
solicitude,  fatigue,  and  disappointment,  how  many  convoca- 
tions, speeches,  and  resolutions,  journeyings,  consultations,  and 
pledges,  and  how  much  of  prayer  and  faith,  it  has  required  to 
obtain  only  a  few  hundred  thousands  ?  And  what  frequent 
haltings  for  lack  of  pecuniary  means  — what  backward  marches 
—  what  territory  lost  that  had  been  gained  for  the  King  of  Zion  ! 
This  is  one  view  of  the  subject.  A  more  reasonable  and  hope- 
ful view  is,  to  regard  the  enterprise  as  in  its  infancy  and  in- 
experience, and  its  economic  nature  as  yet  imperfectly  under- 
stood. Perhaps  it  is  true,  that  as  large  funds  have  been  prov- 
identially committed  to  Missionary  Societies  in  the  past  fifty 
years,  as  they  had  the  knowledge  to  administer  judiciously ; 
and  that  it  is  impossible  to  have  the  necessary  steadiness  and 

(158) 


THE   FINANCES.  159 

increase  of  contributions  until  there  shall  be  a  more  intelligent, 
pervading  conviction  of  the  essentially  progressive  nature  of 
the  work,  and  of  the  wasteful,  destructive  consequences  of  not 
providing  for  it.  This  knowledge  is  extending  and  increas- 
ing ;  and  the  very  exigencies,  by  creating  anxiety  and  alarm, 
tend  to  awaken  thought  and  inquiry,  and  so  increase  this 
knowledge.  Hence  the  first  Corresponding  Secretary  used  to 
say,  that  an  exigency  was  worth  a  thousand  dollars  to  the 
Board.  It  is  worth  much  more  now  ;  but  this  presupposes  a 
faithful  and  wise  administration,  that  will  bear  a  searching 
investigation  as  to  the  cause  of  the  exigency. 

It  is  believed  to  be  a  fact,  that  the  great  permanent  advances 
in  the  receipts  of  the  Board  all  stand  in  immediate  connec- 
tion with  its  larger  debts,  and  would  seem  to  have  resulted 
from  the  effort  to  throw  them  off.  But  indebtedness  has  thus 
proved  useful  only  as  it  could  not  be  avoided. 

The  subject  of  missionary  finance  naturally  divides  into  re- 
ceipts and  expenditures.  The  former  are  mainly  from  dona- 
tions and  legacies;  but  inasmuch  as  these  are  sometimes  re- 
quired by  tiie~<3onors  to  be  invested,  there  comes  at  length  to 
be  an  income  from  permanent  funds.  Moreover,  in  the  prose- 
cution of  foreign  missions,  houses  and  lands  must  sometimes 
be  owned,  and  printing-presses,  and  other  property ;  and  hence 
another,  though  very  limited  source  of  income,  in  the  sale  of 
books  and  other  properties. 

The  expenditures  are  for  the  missions,  for  collecting  the 
funds,  and  for  the  administration.  Estimates,  appropriations, 
remittances,  regulations  for  the  expenditure,  investments,  and 
the  whole  subject  of  indebtedness,  come  under  the  second  di- 
vision, as  does  the  discussion  of  the  various  permanent  funds, 
and  of  the  economical  questions  which  develop  those  laws  of 
missionary  finance,  that  are  as  really  beyond  the  control  of 
missionaries,  and  the  directors  and  patrons  of  missions,  as  the 
laws  of  nature.  A  proper  treatment  of  all  these  topics  would 
require  more  space  than  can  be  afforded  in  this  volume. 


160 


THE  BOARD. 


RECEIPTS   IN   PERIODS  OF   FOUR  YEARS. 


Tears. 

Periods. 

Receipts. 

Periods  of  4  Years. 

Increase. 

Av.  An.  Rec'ts. 

Increase. 

1811 
1812 

1813 
1814 
1815 

1816 

1817 
1818 
1819 

1820 
1821 
1822 
1823 

1824 
1825 
1826 
1827 

1828 
1829 
1830 
1831 

1832 
1833 
1834 
1835 

1836 
1837 
1838 
1839 

1840 
1841 
1842 
1843 

1844 
1845 
1846 
1847 

1848 
1849 
1850 
1851 

1852 
1853 
1854 
1855 

1856 
1857 
1858 
1859 

1860 

1 
2 
3 
4 

5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 

12 

Total, 

$99952 

$46,732  13 

114,698  01 
202,151  21 
253,157  90 
392,891  36 
592,148  18 
908,649  50 
1,039,531  30 
964,983  64 
1,072,526  22 
1,232,862  19 
1,381,185  31 

#67,966 
87,453 
51,006 
39,734 
199,257 
316,501 
130,882 
74547 

Less  than  in 

107,543 
160,336 
148,323 

$11,683 

28,674 
50,537 
63,289 
98,222 

148,037 
227,162 
259,882 
241,245 

the  preceding 

268,131 
308,215 
345,296 

$10,684 
16,991 
21,863 
12,752 
34,933 
49,815 
79,125 
32,720 
18,637 

period. 

26,886 
20,084 
37,081 

13,611  50 
11,361  18 
12,265  56 
9,493  89 

12,501  03 
29,948  63 
34,727  72 
37,520  63 

39,949  45 
46,354  95 
60,087  87 
55,758  94 

47,483  58 
55,716  18 
61,616  25 
88,341  89 

102,009  64 
106,928  26 
83,019  37 
100,934  09 

130,574  12 
145,847  77 
152,386  10 
163,340  19 

176,232  15 
252,076  55 
236,170  98 
244,169  82 

241,691  04 
235,189  30 
318,396  53 
244,254  43 

236,394  37 
255,112  96 
262,073  55 
211,402  76 

254,056  46 
291,705  27 
251,862  28 
274,902  21 

301,732  70 
314,922  88 
305,778  84 
310,427  77 

307,318  69 
388,932  69 
334,018  48 
350,915  45 

429,799  08 

8,632,315  55 

The  balance  in  the  treasury,  at  the  close  of  the  above  period,  was  $1,406 19.  The  footing  of  this  table 
should,  therefore,  have  been  greater  by  $2.531  64.  The  discrepancy  arose  from  the  use  of  some  early  tables 
of  receipts,  prepare1!  to  show  the  amount  of  donations  and  legacies. 


THE    FINANCES. 


161 


RECEIPTS  IN  PERIODS  OF  TEN  YEARS. 


1. 

-.  •        4. 

Year. 

Donations. 

Legacies. 

Year. 

Donations. 

Legacies. 

1811 

$97596 

1841 

$213,236  39 

$20,506  65 

1812 

13,597  40 

1842 

277,495  04 

39,088  31 

1813 

11,209  90 

1843 

222,014  90 

20,761  32 

1814 

11,791  91 

$1500 

1844 

217,902  66 

16,446  85 

1815 

9,122  54 

•    291  00 

1845 

220,863  92 

32,437  01 

1816 

10,412  51 

10183 

1846 

195,208  37 

63,436  90 

1817 

24,505  66 

2,620  00 

1847 

192,816  92 

16,548  29 

1818 

31,712  53 

8000 

1848 

225,595  01 

26,157  49 

1819 

33,676  25 

29037 

1849 

261,431  41 

28,271  29 

1820 

35,224  49 

97315 

1850 

217,839  26 

31,474  84 

$182,229  15 

$4,371  35 

$2,244,403  88 

$295,128  95 

2. 

5. 

1821 

45,433  65 

36383 

1851 

244,521  43 

28,169  36 

1822 

57,625  87 

1,816  61 

1852 

263,683  46 

36,020  44 

1823 

48,509  70 

5,054  52 

1853 

269,899  42 

35,156  16 

1824 

44,657  55  ' 

1,642  18 

1854 

264,951  97 

32,238  89 

182-5 

50,624  03 

3,101  45 

1855 

256,855  57 

44,482  60 

1826 

57,645  75 

2,075  36 

1856 

250,486  22 

48,730  36 

1827 

82,435  25 

4,088  03 

1857 

321,432  98 

55,035  12 

1828 

95,784  00 

3,721  88 

1858 

269,827  29 

34,248  76 

1829 

94,870  90 

9,671  34 

1859 

276,597  38 

49,963  03 

1830 

75,408  73 

5,379  43 

1860 

373,241  72 

52,597  53 

v  $642,995  43 

$41,285  98 

$2,791,497  44 

$416,642  25 

3. 

1831 

89,068  26 

9,235  76 

SUMMARY. 

1832 

117,392  00 

10,349  93 

1833 

132  565  68 

8,828  85 

1834 

138,919  00 

IAS  QQfi  *?<; 

6,709  66 

A  QQ7  9^ 

Periods.             Donations. 

Legacies. 

1836 

164,817  55 

8,757  84 

1811-1820       182,229  15 

4,371  35 

1837 

233,443  39 

14,030  32 

1821-1830       642,995  43 

41,28598 

1838 

227,338  11 

5,491  35 

1831-1840    1,705,205  73 

99,914  73 

1839 

223,987  84 

17,700  24 

1841-1850    2,244,403  88 

295,128  95 

1840 

228,777  55 

11,813  53 

1851-1860    2,791,49744 

416,642  25 

- 

$1,705,205  73 

$99,914  73 

Total,      $7,566,331  63 

$857,343  26 

21 


162  THE   BOARD. 

Legacies  to  the  Permanent  Funds  are  not  included  in  the 
preceding  tables  of  receipts.  These  funds  are  two  —  the 
General  Permanent  Fund,  consisting  of  $64,715,  and  the 
Permanent  Fund  for  Officers,  amounting  to  -$39,840. 

GENERAL  SUMMARY. 

From  Donations, $7,566,331  63 

From  Legacies, 857,343  26 

From  Other  Sources, 208,640  66 

Grand  Total, $8,632,315  55 

An  inquiry,  prosecuted  some  twenty  years  since,  made  it 
seem  highly  probable,  that  not_mQjre  than  two  thirds  ofthe 
church  members,  even  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  then  gave 
any  thing  for  the  cause  of  foreign  missions!  HT  appeared, 
moreover,  that  eight  parts  out  of  nine  of  all  that  was  given, 
was  by  church  members.  In  most  districts  of  country,  the 
proportion  of  giving  church  members  must  be  considerably 
less,  and  the  proportion  contributed  by  the  visible  church 
more.  It  is  matter  for  grateful  acknowledgment,  however, 
that  from  the  beginning  there  has  been,  on  the  whole,  an  up- 
ward tendency  in  the  receipts.  Dividing  the  time  of  the 
Board's  existence  into  periods  of  four  years,  in  every  one  of 
these  periods,  with  but  a  single  exception,  there  has  been  an 
increase  of  receipts.  That  exception  was  owing  to  the  extraor- 
dinary impression  made  on  the  Christian  community  by  the 
meeting  ofthe  Board  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1841,  which, 
through  the  divine  blessing,  carried  the  income  of  the  follow- 
ing year  up  to  the  unprecedented  amount  of  three  hundred 
and  eighteen  thousand  dollars.  The  table  presents  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  advance  of  the  mighty  cause  of  the  gospel, 
slowly,  but  steadily,  surely,  from  period  to  period,  as  by  invin- 
cible laws. 


THE    FINANCES. 


163 


EXPENDITURES  1ST   PERIODS  OF   FOUR  YEARS. 


Years. 

Periods. 

Expenditures. 

Periods  of  4  Years. 

Increase. 

AT.  An.  Exp's. 

Increase. 

1811 

1812 
1813 
1814 
1815 

1816 
1817 
1818 
1819 

1820 
1821 
1822 
1823 

1824 
1825 
1826 
1827 

1828 
1829 
1830 
1831 

1832 
1833 
1834 
1835 

1836 
1837 
1838 
1839 

1840 
1841 
1842 
1843 

1844 
1845 
1846 
1847 

1848 
1849 
1850 
1851 

1852 
1853 
1854 
1855 

1856 
1857 
1858 
1859 

1860 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 

12 

Total, 

$30,415 

113,102 
231,246 
258,068 
383,320 
593,893 
923,129 
1,033,349 
983,576 
1,084,907 
1,209,369 
1,427,049 

$82,687 
118,144 
26,822 
125,252 
210,573 
329,236 
110,220 
*49,773 
101,331 
124,462 
217,680 

$7,603 
28,275 
57,811 
64,517 
95,830 
148,473 
230,782 

258,337 
245,894 
271,226 
302,342 
356,762 

$20,672 
29,536 
6,706 
31,313 
52,648 
82,309 
27,555 
*12,443 
25,333 
31,115 
54,420 

$9,699 
8,611 
7,078 
5,027 

15,934 
20,485 
36,346 
40,337 

57,621 
46,771 
60,474 
66,380 

54,157 
41,469 
59,012 
103,430 

107,676 
92,533 
84,798 
98,313 

120,954 
149,906 
159,779 
163,254 

210,407 
254,589 
230,642 
227,491 

246,601 
268,914 
261,147 
256,687 

244,371 
216,817 
257,605 
264,783 

282,330 
263,418 
254,329 
284,830 

257,727 
310,607 
322,142 
318.893 

323,000 
355,590 
372,041 
376,418 

361,958 

$8,633,381 

*  Less  than  in  the  preceding  period. 


164  THE   BOARD. 

There  was  an  excess  of  the  expenditure  over  the  receipts  in 
seven  of  the  twelve  periods,  and  in  five  of  them  the  receipts 
exceeded  the  expenditure.  The  difference  formed  the  debt, 
as  it  stood  July  31,  1859,  which  was  so  happily  removed  in 
the  following  year.  The  annual  increase  in  the  Board's  ex- 
penditure from  the  beginning,  has  averaged  about  seven  thou- 
sand six  hundred  dollars.  During  the  last  six  periods,  the 
annual  increase  was  about  eight  thousand  eight  hundred  dol- 
lars. Considering  the  prosperity  and  extent  of  the  system  of 
missions,  as  a  whole,  perhaps  it  is  not  more  than  their  natural 
growth,  under  the  ordinary  blessing  of  Heaven.  Foreign  mis- 
sions are  essentially  progressive,  as  much  so  as  a  family.  The 
analogy  is  most  striking.  The  children  advance  physically, 
intellectually,  morally,  making  increasing  demands  for  food, 
clothing,  and  education.  This  is  the  family  constitution,  and 
violence  is  done  to  the  laws  of  domestic  life  whenever  the 
growth  is  resisted,  or  even  not  promoted.  Up  to  a  certain 
period,  it  involves  a  regular  increase  of  expense,  which  no 
enlightened  parent  would  withhold,  except  from  necessity. 
Thus  we  see  in  a  mission  a  regular  growth  and  development 
up  to  a  certain  period  of  its  life.  But  experience  shows,  that 
an  invariable  yearly  increase  in  the  receipts  is  not  to  be 
expected.  There  was  a  decrease  in  fifteen  of  the  past  fifty 
years.  There  have  been  vacillations  analogous  to  those  in  the 
business  of  the  country,  and  more  or  less  resulting  therefrom  ; 
and  it  is  one  of  the  unsolved  problems  in  foreign  missions, 
how  to  provide  against  these.  Perhaps  our  only  solution  is  in 
the  principle  of  faith.  The  main  ground  of  confidence  in  the 
success  of  missions  to  the  heathen  world,  is  in  that  principle. 
Our  hopes  and  expectations  concerning  their  progress  and 
final  triumph  are  sustained  by  the  command,  promise,  faith- 
fulness, power,  and  agency  of  Almighty  God. 

The  experience  of  the  Board  in  its  first  twenty-five  years 
did  not  warrant  any  serious  apprehension  of  danger  in  leaving 
the  several  missions  to  exercise  a  discretion,  under  general 
directions  from  the  Committee,  as  to  the  amount  of  their 


THE  FINANCES.  165 

^s=^ 

annual  expenditures.  But  in  the  year  1836.j!he  expenditures 
of  the  Board  rose  from  one  hundred  an<5"~sixty-three  thousand 
dollars  —  which  was  the  expenditure  of  the  previous  year  — 
to  two  hundred  and  ten  thousand  dollars ;  and  the  debt  from 
four  thousand  six  hundred  dollars  to  thirty-eight  thousand 
eight  hundred  dollars.  The  expenditures  of  the  year  1837N; 
were  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  thousand  dollars,  or  ninety- 
one  thousand  dollars  more  than  the  receipts  of  the  previous 
year,  and  the  debt  forty-one  thousand  dollars.  Had  not  the 
receipts  of  the  Board,  in  that  year  of  general  gloom  and  bank- 
ruptcy in  the  country,  exceeded  those  of  the  previous  year  by 
more  than  seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  the  Board  would 
have  met  at  Newark  under  an  overwhelming  load  of  debt. 
Had  no  more  been  contributed  in  1837  —  that  year  of  com- 
mercial disaster  and  distress  —  than  in  the  two  years  of  plenty 
immediately  preceding,  the  missions,  without  a  miracle  of 
mercy,  would  have  suffered  all  but  starvation  and  ruin  !  For 
how  could  the  Board,  in  such  circumstances,  have  had  credit 
in  the  commercial  world  to  draw  its  bills  of  exchange  on  Lon- 
in  sums  sufficient  to  supply  their  wants  ?  or,  resorting  to 


the  only  other  mode  l^remittance,  where  could  it  have  pro- 
cured specie,  when  there  was  none  in  the  market  ?  Moreover, 
had  not  the  Committee,  in  the  summer  of  1837,  reduced  the 
expenses  of  the  missions  some  forty  thousand  dollars,  the  debt, 
instead  of  being  only  thirty-five  thousand  dollars,  would  have 
risen  to  seventy-five  thousand  dollars. 

The  Prudential  Committee  attributed  no  blame  to  the 
missions  for  this  increase  in  their  expenditures.  At  the 
commencement  of  every  mission,  circumstances  for  a  time 
prescribe  narrow  limits  to  a  judicious  expenditure.  The  mis- 
sionaries do  not  know  the  language,  and  have  no  press,  no 
schools,  no  native  helpers.  They  need  money  only  for  food, 
clothing,  shelter,  occasional  tours,  and  for  procuring  instruc- 
tion in  the  language.  But  with  advancing  time  there  are 
changes.  Beginning  to  preach,  they  need  preaching  houses 
of  some  sort,  which,  at  the  least,  the  natives  must  have  help 
in  providing.  They  prepare  books,  and  require  a  press. 


166  THE  BOARD. 

They  have  a  printing  establishment,  readers,  a  demand  for 
books,  and  need  paper,  ink,  workmen.  They  have  free 
schools,  training  schools,  native  helpers,  preaching  tours,  and 
calls  for  new  stations,  more  laborers,  more  and  more  extended 
and  vigorous  operations.  In  such  circumstances,  it  might  be 
judicious,  if  the  funds  can  be  obtained,  to  increase  the  expen- 
ditures considerably.  Nay,  to  the  missionaries  on  the  ground, 
a  great  increase  may  seem  a  matter  of  obvious  necessity,  and 
not  to  make  it  they  may  feel  to  be  a  neglect  and  exposure 
of  the  harvest  in  the  field  no  better  than  a  waste  of  money, 
labor,  and  influence.  And  yet,  in  the  actual  state  of  the  treas- 
ury, —  as  better  known  to  the  Committee  at  home  than  it  can 
be  to  them,  —  such  an  increase  of  expenditure  may  involve 
other  and  greater  evils,  which  ought  on  no  account  to  be 
incurred. 

About  the  years  1835  and  1836,  many  of  the  missions  felt 
impelled  to  enlargement  by  motives  like  these ;  and  the 
number  of  the  missions  had  now  become  such,  that  a 
small  increase  of  expense  in  each  made  a  large  sum  in  the 
aggregate.  So  distant  were  the  missions  from  each  other, 
that  they  could  not  act  in  concert ;  and  so  distant  from  the 
seat  of  the  Board,  that  a  long  time  was  required  to  modify 
their  expenditures  in  an  emergency.  There  was  no  way, 
therefore,  to  prevent  the  evil  of  an  overdrawn  treasury,  but 
by  assigning  bounds  to  the  annual  expenditure  of  each  mis- 
sion. Indeed,  so  great  was  the  exigency,  in  the  early  part  of 
1837,  as  to  constrain  the  Committee  at  once  to  put  a  limit 
upon  the  expenses  of  each  mission,  making  use  of  such  facts 
as  they  had  in  deciding  what  it  ought  to  be.  This  they  did  in 
a  circular  letter,  which,  though  it  did  not  require  reductions, 
served  to  effect  them  in  many  cases.  The  missions  generally 
appreciated  the  motives  which  governed  the  Committee,  and 
conformed  to  their  instructions.  In  one  mission,  however,  a 
portion  of  the  missionaries  called  in  question  the  right  of  the 
Prudential  Committee  so  to  restrict  their  expenses.  They 
resolved,  that,  in  their  opinion,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Board 
fully  to  sustain  the  schools,  or  be  chargeable  with  a  dereliction 


THE   FINANCES.  167 

of  Christian  and  missionary  duty  fatal  to  the  best  interests  of 
the  people.  They  also  passed  the  following,  among  other 
resolutions :  — 

That  as  the  Board,  in  their  late  letter,  seem  to  withhold 
from  the  schools  that  aid  which  we  had  reason  from  their 
instructions  to  expect,  therefore  we  can  not  but  feel  deeply 
grieved  at  such  a  procedure,  without  a  full  knowledge  of  our 
circumstances,  and  the  difficulties  in  which  such  a  measure 
might  involve  us. 

As  a  vital  principle  was  here  involved,  which  needed  settle- 
ment before  going  further,  the  case  was  referred  to  the  Board 
at  its  meeting  in  1838.  The  response  of  the  Board  was  as 
follows :  — 

1.  That  our  missionaries,  in  passing  these  resolutions,  evi- 
dently acted  under  a  misapprehension  as  to  the  facts  in  the 
case ;  and  we  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  had  they  pos- 
sessed more  definite  information  on  the  subject,  they  would 
not  have  adopted  the  resolutions. 

2.  That  it  is,  and  always  will  be,  the  duty  of  the  Prudential 
Committee,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Board,  faith- 
fully to  employ  all  the  means  furnished  by  the  charities  of  the 
community  in  providing  for  the  comfortable  support  of  the 
missionaries,  and  for  the  enlargement  and  success  of  their 
operations. 

3.  That,  both  as   a   right   and   a   duty,  it  unquestionably 
belongs  to  the  Prudential  Committee,  under  the  supervision 
of  the  Board,  to  regulate  the  expenses  of  every  mission,  and 
of  every  missionary ;  that  this  principle  is  clearly  implied  in 
the  standing  rules  of  the  Board,  and  that  the  uniform  practice 
has  been  in  accordance  with  it,  ever  since  the  commencement 
of  our  foreign  missions ;  that  the  Board  deem  this  principle 
of  vital  importance  in  the  prosecution  of  missions  ;  and  that 
it  can   not  be  overlooked  or  neglected  without  opening  the 
door   for   great   irregularities    and  embarrassments   in   their 
pecuniary  concerns,  and  thus  forfeiting  the  confidence  of  the 
public. 


168  THE  BOARD. 

4.  That  it  is  the  indispensable  duty  of  all  the  missionaries 
of  the  Board  to  govern  themselves,  in  regard  to  their  expen- 
ditures, and  all  their  proceedings  as  missionaries,  according 
to  the  directions  of  the  Prudential  Committee. 

5.  That  although  in  ordinary  cases  it  is  altogether  proper, 
and  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  Prudential  Committee  should 
have  free  consultation  with  the  missionaries  in  every  station 
before  making  important  changes  in  relation  to  expenditures, 
or  other  subjects  pertaining  to  the  conduct  of  missions,  yet 
they  have  a  perfect  right,  and  are  bound  in  duty,  to  make  any 
changes  at  once,  without  such  consultation,  whenever  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  render  it  necessary. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  present  system  of  Estimates  and  Ap- 
propriations arose.  The  missions  are  expected  to  make  out  a 
carefully  prepared  estimate  of  the  expenditures  needed  for  the 
next  year  in  every  department  of  their  labors,  going  as  much 
as  possible  into  detail,  and  to  forward  it  in  time  to  reach  the 
Missionary  House  before  October ;  and  upon  these  estimates 
the  appropriations  for  the  following  year  are  made  out  by  the 
Prudential  Committee ;  and  by  these  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Board  is  governed  in  his  remittances.  As  the  missions  are 
expected  to  be  governed  by  them,  it  might  seem  that  nothing 
more  is  needful  to  keep  the  expenditure  within  the  appropria- 
tion. The  success  has  not  been  complete.  The  appropria- 
tions are  to  be  made  beforehand.  The  missions  are  in  distant 
countries  ;  and  it  is  not  possible  for  the  Board  to  proceed  oil 
the  principle  of  remitting  only  as  the  funds  are  actually 
in  the  treasury.  No  foreign  missionary  society  is  able  to 
do  this.  Those  distant  expenditures  must  be  authorized 
months  before  they  are  actually  incurred ;  and  of  course  with 
reference  to  the  probable  and  not  the  actual  receipts.  In  the 
working  of  an  extended  system  of  foreign  missions,  this  is  the 
wisest  economy.  Suppose  it  possible  to  obtain  the  funds  be- 
forehand for  a  six  months'  or  a  year's  outlay  :  on  such  a  finan- 
cial system,  there  must  be  large  sums  constantly  on  hand,  with 
the  difficulties  of  safe  investment,  with  interest,  with  losses, 


THE   FINANCES.  169 

and  with  the  uncongenial  reputation  of  a  money-lending  insti- 
tution. The  Christian  public  will  not  make  such  advances  to 
a  missionary  society,  nor  are  they  desirable.  It  has  been, 
however,  the  tacit  understanding  of  the  missions,  that  the  Board 
is  to  make  good  to  them  the  nominal  value  of  all  the  appro- 
priations. Had  this  applied  in  practice  only  to  losses  on  ex- 
change, the  evil  would  not  have  been  great.  But  the  principle 
once  admitted,  naturally  had  a  broader  application ;  and  so 
the  year  has  been  apt  to  close  with  a  considerable  excess  of 
the  expenditure  above  the  appropriations.  Losses,  war  prices, 
extra  appropriations,  etc.,  instead  of  being  met  on  the  ground 
by  modifications  in  the  enterprise  itself,  have  come'  home  upon 
the  central  treasury ;  and,  if  no  special  fund  had  been  re- 
served for  such  contingencies,  they  of  course  created  a  debt, 
and  went  out  in  that  repulsive  form  and  aspect  to  the  churches. 
The  inconvenience  of  this  has  been  seriously  felt.  It  has 
seemed  desirable,  therefore,  so  to  arrange  the  appropriations 
that  the  missions  will  go  through  the  year,  and  meet  all 
their  outlays,  with  the  money  actually  appropriated.  This 
would  necessarily  involve  the  right  of  the  missions  to  modify 
the  several  departments  of  expenditure."  A  sum  being  placed 
at  their  disposal,  —  all  the  Board  is  able  to  assign  for  the 
year,  —  the  missions  will  so  manage  as  to  make  it  meet 
all  the  exigencies  of  the  year  in  immediate  connection  with 
their  field.  The  Board  is  too  remote  from  the  missions  for 
prompt  intervention  ;  but  the  missions  are  in  the  midst  of  their 
work  and  expenditure,  and  so  can  stop  short  at  any  time,  where 
they  must.  Skill,  thought,  resolution,  painstaking,  will  be 
required ;  but,  if  this  be  carried  out  in  all  the  missions,  it  will 
leave  the  Board,  at  the  close  of  its  year,  with  nothing  extra  to 
meet,  except  the  possible  excess  of  the  appropriations  above 
the  receipts. 

The  Agencies  will  be  treated  historically  in  a  subsequent 
chapter ;  but  this  is  the  place  to  remark  upon  their  cost.  The 
salaries  of  the  district  secretaries  are  necessarily  larger  in 
some  districts  than  in  others.  For  obvious  reasons,  this  class 

22 


170  THE  BOARD. 

of  laborers  need  to  reside  in  central  places,  where  railroads  and 
post-routes  meet,  and  from  which  they  can  most  readily  visit 
and  communicate  with  the  different  sections  of  their  respec- 
tive districts ;  and  it  is  found  that  such  men  as  pastors  and 
churches  will  gladly  welcome,  are  not  obtainable  at  less  sala- 
ries than  are  paid  by  the  Board.  The  traveling  expenses 
form  no  part  of  the  salary.  These  represent  the  amount  of 
travel  performed  in  prosecuting  the  agency.  The  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  seventy-nine  dollars  paid  last  year  on 
this  score,  if  all  for  the  road  expenses  alone,  would  represent 
some  sixty  thousand  miles  of  travel.  The  distance  traveled 
can  be  scarcely  less  than  fifty  thousand  miles.  The  roads  are 
often  long  and  wearisome.  As  with  postages  in  the  case  of  sec- 
retaries, so  with  road  expenses  in  respect  to  agents,  the  greater 
the  amount,  the  greater,  almost  of  course,  the  labor  performed. 

The  value  of  the  PRESS,  as  a  missionary  agent,  is  inestima- 
ble. The  Board  has  relied  much  on  the  self-supporting  reli- 
gious newspapers  and  periodicals  of  the  day,  which  form  so 
prominent  a  feature  in  the  religious  life  of  the  age.  But  every 
large  society  finds  it  necessary  to  have  channels  of  its  own  for 
communicating  with  the  public.  It  has  been  so  witli  the 
Board  during  the  greater  part  of  its  existence.  The  Missionary 
Herald  has  been  its  main  reliance.  That  publication  was  once 
more  than  supported  by  subscribers  paying  a  dollar  and  a 
half  for  the  volume.  The  question  arose  at  length,  whether 
the  cause  would  not  be  promoted  by  sending  the  Herald  gra- 
tuitously to  every  donor  of  ten  dollars  and  upward  who  did 
not  prefer  taking  it  as  a  subscriber,  to  every  collector  of  not 
less  than  fifteen  dollars,  to  treasurers  of  associations  contribut- 
ing not  less  than  twenty  dollars,  and  to  pastors  in  congrega- 
tions which  statedly  contribute  to  the  treasury  of  the  Board 
through  the  monthly  concert  or  otherwise.  Such  was  the 
opinion  of  the  Board ;  and  these  donors,  collectors,  treasurers, 
congregations,  are  justly  reckoned  among  the  supporters  of 
the  Missionary  Herald.  Somewhat  more  than  two  thousand 
copies  are  paid  for  by  subscribers,  who  are  often,  by  the  rule, 


THE    FINANCES.  171 

entitled  to  gratuitous  copies,  and  about  thirteen  thousand 
copies  go  as  is  stated  above.  Similar  remarks  would  apply  to 
the  gratuitous  distribution  of  some  forty  thousand  copies  of 
the  Journal  of  Missions  and  Day  Spring. 

The  cost  of  printing  the  Annual  Report  has  ever  been  re- 
garded as  a  judicious  expenditure.  The  Report  would  not 
have  been  elaborately  written  if  it  were  not  to  be  printed  ; 
the  motive  would  not  have  been  sufficient.  It  would  have 
been  little  more  than  the  brief  general  abstract  usually  read 
at  the  annual  meeting.  A  thorough  digest  was  the  thing  need- 
ed, a  careful  resume*,  an  intelligent  exhibition,  of  the  proceed- 
ings and  events  of  the  year ;  and  such  has  been  the  Annual 
Report.  It  has  put  the  Board  and  the  churches  in  commu- 
nication with  the  executive  and  the  missions.  Its  influence 
upon  the  officers  in  preparing  it,  has  been  like  taking  an  ac- 
count of  stock  with  the  merchant.  It  has  been  the  winding 
up  of  the  mainspring.  The  Board  would  not  have  felt  that 
it  understood  or  could  understand  the  business,  but  for  the 
Report.  The  document  is  believed  to  be  no  larger  than  is 
needful  for  an  intelligible  account  of  such  extended  and  pros- 
perous operations ;  nor  is  the  edition  greater  than  the  number 
of  associations  and  donors  who  rightfully  expect  to  receive  it. 

The  MISCELLANEOUS  expenditure  scarcely  needs  remark.  The 
payment  for  postage  represents  a  large  amount  of  correspond- 
ence. Within  our  own  country,  it  is  paid  for  letters  written  at 
the  Missionary  House.  With  the  missions,  and  individuals  in 
foreign  lands,  it  is  only  for  communications  from  or  to  the  exec- 
utive officers  of  the  Board.  More  than  five  hundred  dollars, 
not  in  the  treasurer's  account,  was  paid  for  letters  passing 
through  the  Missionary  House  from  missionaries  or  their  per- 
sonal friends,  and  of  course  charged  to  the  private  account  of 
the  missionaries.  As  to  salaries,  it  may  be  proper  to  say,  that 
the  Secretaries  have  never  been  able  to  live  upon  their  salaries 
alone  ;  though,  having  always  received  as  much  from  the  Board 
as  they  themselves  deemed  expedient,  they  have  never  seen 
reason  to  complain. 


172  THE  BOARD. 

• 

REMITTANCES. 

The  remittances  to  the  missions,  previous  to  the  year  1830, 
were  usually  in  specie.  The  exception  was  in  the  years  1826 
and  1827,  when  an  arrangement  was  kindly  entered  into  by 
Edward  A.  Newton,  Esq.,  —  now  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  then  a 
merchant  in  Calcutta,  —  to  advance  funds  for  the  expenses  of 
the  India  missions,  for  which  bills  were  to  be  drawn  payable 
in  London.  Since  1830,^he  Board  has  made  its  remittances 
through  Messrs.  Baring,  Brothers,  &  Co.,  the  well-known  bank- 
ers in  London.  The  Treasurer  draws  no  bills  until  authorized 
by  the  Prudential  Committee,  and  a  certified  copy  of  their 
vote  is  required  by  the  agent  of  the  bankers,  before  he  gives 
the  sanction  of  his  house.  During  the  thirty  years  past,  the 
Board  has  remitted  nearly  four  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars 
through  the  Messrs.  Barings  to  the  several  missions.  From 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  thousand  pounds  sterling  have  generally 
been  out  at  one  time,  but  there  has  never  been  a  time  when 
any  security  was  demanded. 

Almost  all  the  missions  are  thus  sustained.  These  bills  of 
exchange  form  a  better  remittance  than  specie,  as  they  can  be 
sent  by  mail,  oftener,  in  smaller  sums,  with  less  trouble,  with- 
out the  cost  of  insurance  and  freight,  and  without  the  loss  of 
interest.  In  general  they  are  re^^e^mpjithly,  and  about 
the  same  amount  is  sent  from  month  to  month.  The  bills  are 
sold  by  the  missions,  and  thus  are  converted  into  money.  The 
monthly  remittance  is  equal  to  a  twelfth  part  of  the  annual 
allowance  to  the  mission.  Of  course  the  bills  do  not  accumu- 
late in  the  hands  of  the  treasurers  of  the  missions,  and  those 
which  arrive  and  become  due  in  London  are  about  the  same 
in  amount  from  month  to  month  with  those  which  are  sent 
from  Boston.  After  these  bills  of  exchange  have  once  com- 
pleted a  revolution  in  their  appointed  orbits,  it  makes  little 
difference  in  the  amount  of  the  Board's  indebtedness,  at  what 
period  in  their  revolution  they  are  charged  in  the  Treasurer's 
accounts ;  for  they  are  scattered  along  through  every  month 
in  the  year  in  nearly  equal  proportions,  and  while  new  bills  of 


THE   FINANCES.  173 

exchange  commence  their  revolution  and  are  entered  to  the 
debit  of  the  Board,  the  like  number  terminate  theirs,  and 
come  up  for  final  adjustment.  While,  therefore,  this  mode  of 
remittance  continues  undisturbed,  it  makes  little  difference,  on 
the  debit  side  of  the  accounts,  whether  the  bills  are  charged 
when  remitted,  or  on  reaching  the  mission,  or  on  coming  to 
maturity  in  London. 

The  usage  of  the  Treasurer  is  to  charge  the  bills  as  soon  as 
they  are  remitted.  This  is  due  to  the  banking  house  in  Lon- 
don, which,  through  its  agent  in  Boston,  makes  itself  respon- 
sible for  the  payment  of  these  bills  of  exchange  before  they 
are  sent.  This  is  due  also  to  the  community  ;  for  these  bills 
of  exchange  are  as  truly  a  remittance  of  money  as  the  send- 
ing of  so  many  bank  bills  from  Boston  to  New  York,  and  the 
JBoard  is  held  firmly  bound  to  redeem  them  in  specie^  or  its 
equivalent,  and  the  community  ought  to  know  the  extent  of 
the  liabilities.  Moreover,  —  and  this  consideration  alone 
would  be  decisive, — if  the  bills  were  not  charged  until  they 
had  completed  their  circuit,  and  a  war,  or  any  other  cause, 
should  break  up  the  present  arrangement,  and  compel  the 
Board  to  resort  again  to  the  remittance  of  specie,  all  the  mis- 
sions which  are  sustained  by  this  means  would  inevitably  be 
charged  with  double  their  actual  expenditure  for  the  greater 
part  of  a  year  following  this  event;  and  the  Board  would 
suddenly  fall  into  arrears,  and  that  too,  probably,  in  circum- 
stances very  inauspicious.  For  not  only  would  specie  have  to 
be  bought  to  take  the  place  of  the  bills  of  exchange  in  the 
monthly  remittance,  (which  of^ourse^  w^aild[  have  to  be 
charged  at  once,)  but  for  months  the  bills  that  were  perform- 
ing their  revolution  would  be  arriving  in  London,  and  demand 
payment  there. 

INVESTMENTS. 

The  Permanent  Funds  of  the  Board  are  divided  into  two 
classes  —  the  General  JPejinaneiit  .Fund,  and  the  JFuud  for 
Officers.  The  former  amounts  to  sixty-four  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  fifteen  dollars,  as  has  been  stated,  and  the  latter 


174  THE   BOARD. 

to  thirty-nine  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty  dollars.  The 
foundations  of  the  General  Fund  were  laid  in  Mrs.  Norris's 
legacy  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  at  the  outset  of  the  Board's 
history.  It  is  chiefly  made  up  of  legacies  bequeathed  for  it 
expressly,  and  embraces  the  Missipnary  House.  The  Fund 
for  Officers,  the  income  of  which  goes  to  pay  part  of  their  sal- 
aries, had  its  origin  many  years  ago  in  the  dissatisfaction 
which  some  excellent  patrons,  living  in  rural  districts,  felt  at 
the  amount  it  was  needful  to  give  the  officers  for  their  support. 
It  was  made  up  in  part  by  contributions  for  this  specific  object, 
and  in  part  from  the  profits  of  the  Missionary  Herald,  when 
the  paying  subscription  list  was  much  larger  than  it  is  at 
present.  It  is  deemed  prudent  to  retain  such  permanent 
funds  as  are  now  held  by  the  Board,  in  order  that  there  may 
be  a  sure  reliance  in  case  of  emergency.  The  credit  of  the 
Board  might  otherwise,  under  circumstances  of  unexpected 
difficulty,  be  impaired,  which  would  prove  an  incalculable  evil. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  in  Utica,  in  1855,  the  com- 
mittee on  the  Treasurer's  report  proposed  that  a  select  com- 
mittee be  appointed  to  consider  the  propriety  and  expediency 
of  making  some  permanent  provision  for  the  support  of  super- 
annuated and  disabled  missionaries,  and  also  to  inquire  into 
the  expediency  of  revising  the  present  rules  respecting  the 
children  of  missionaries,  and  that  the  said  committee  report 
at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Board.  Such  a  committee  was 
appointed,  and  presented  a  written  report  at  the  following 
meeting,  which  was  ordered  to  be  printed  for  circulation 
among  the  members,  and  to  come  up  for  consideration  at  the 
meeting  in  Providence  in  1857.  Two  able  reports  were  then 
presented  ;  one  by  the  majority,  in  favor  of  establishing  a 
fund  for  the  relief  of  superannuated  and  disabled  missionaries, 
and  the  children  of  missionaries.  The  other  was  a  minority 
report  against  such  a  fund.  After  considerable  discussion,  the 
following  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted  as  a  substitute 
for  those  proposed  by  the  committee  :  — 

1.  That  it  is  highly  desirable  to  cherish  and  strengthen  a 
warm  Christian  sympathy  in  behalf  of  those  who  have  been 


THE   FINANCES.  175 

disabled  in  their  work  as  missionaries,  and  toward  their  wid- 
ows and  children,  and  that  it  is  desirable  to  open  all  suitable 
channels  for  the  practical  expression  of  such  sympathies. 

2.  That  the  Prudential  Committee  will  receive  and  cheer- 
fully appropriate,  according  to  the  same  principles  which  have 
hitherto  governed  them  in  the  premises,  whatever  legacies  or 
contributions  may  be  made  from  year  to  year,  and  designated 
by  their  donors  for  this  specific  object. 

The  subject  will  be  treated  somewhat  more  largely  in  the 
chapter  on  missionaries. 

INDEBTEDNESS. 

The  Board  has  been  obliged  often  to  report  a  debt,  greater 
or  less  in  amount ;  but  this  has  not  been  because  its  annual 
expenditure  in  so  many  instances  exceeded  its  income.  When 
a  debt  is  once  incurred  in  a  great  system  of  operations,  and 
where  the  demand  011  the  treasury  is  constant  arid  increasing, 
it  is  not  easily  removed ;  because  there  must  be  a  sum  large 
enough  to  pay  both  the  current  expenses  and  the  debt.  In 
truth,  the  missions  have  grown  faster  than  the  habit  of  giving 
in  the  churches.  The  expenditure  has  consequently  pressed 
hard  upon  the  receipts.  In  two  or  three  instances,  owing  to 
unusual  prosperity  in  some  of  the  missions,  and  it  may  be  to 
commercial  distress  at  home,  the  indebtedness  has  become 
such  as  to  occasion  some  uneasiness.  But  it  has  always  been 
paid  without  impairing  the  credit  of  the  Board,  or  bringing 
any  damage  on  the  Christian  community.  Taking  one  time 
with  another,  the  expenditure  has  probably  been  no  more  in 
advance  of  public  sentiment,  than  to  operate  as  a  really  health- 
ful stimulant.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the  restriction  upon 
the  expenditure  has  always  been  as  stringent  as  seemed  to 
comport  with  a  proper  observance  of  the  law  of  continued 
progress,  which  God  has  prescribed  for  the  missionary  enter- 
prise. The  missions  can  not  be  healthy,  contented,  pros- 
perous, without  a  free  growth  and  expansion.  And  it  has 
ever  been  the  policy  of  the  Board  to  protect,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  results  of  labor  in  the  missions. 


176 


THE   BOARD. 


The  public  admission  of  debt,  on  the  part  of  the  Board,  has 
never  affected  its  credit.  When  the  debt  has  become  large, 
effectual  measures  are  taken  to  reduce  it.  The  banking 
house  in  London,  however,  on  whom  its  bills  of  exchange 
are  chiefly  drawn,  appears  to  be  aware  that  Christian  benev- 
olence, directed  to  a  commanding  religious  object  of  enduring 
interest,  like  the  conversion  of  the  world  to  God,  is  more  to  be 
depended  on  than  mere  skill  in  trade.  It  is  also  a  fact,  that 
the  permanent  funds  of  the  Board  are  .greater  than  the  debt 
has  ever  been  ;  and,  as  a  last  resort,  even  that  portion  of  them 
which  the  Board  has  no  power  to  spend,  because  the  donors 
gave  only  the  interest  to  be  expended,  might,  doubtless,  by  a 
process  of  law,  be  made  available  to  the  discharge  of  its  liabil- 
ities. A  permanent  fund  to  a  certain  amount,  that  can  not  be 
applied  to  current  expenses,  is  an  important,  if  not  an  indispen- 
sable, safeguard  to  the  credit  of  the  Board  in  the  commercial 
world.  It  has  been  deemed  proper  always  to  state  the  accounts 
of  the  Board  so  that  the  community  may  see  just  how  far  the 
institution  is  within  the  line  of  safety. 

The  Prudential  Committee  has  often  had  but  a  very  limited 
responsibility  for  the  balance,  which  the  closing  year  has  left 
standing  against  the  Board.  The  elements  composing  it  were 
perhaps  scarcely  within  their  legitimate  control.  Only  by  an 
exercise  of  power,  it  may  be,  in  disregard  of  the  laws  of  mis- 
sionary finance,  could  they  have  done  any  thing  effectual  to  pre- 
vent it.  Reducing  missions,  and  holding  back  missionaries, 
besides  being  contrary  to  the  command  of  Christ,  are  not 
found  to  exert  a  beneficial  effect  on  the  treasury.  They  have 
a  disastrous  influence  on  the  missionary  spirit  in  our  colleges 
and  theological  seminaries,  and  indeed  every  where.  If  new 
missionaries  fail  to  come  forward,  and  there  is  actually  a 
decline  in  the  number  of  missionaries  abroad,  it  is  found  to 
be  hard  to  induce  the  churches  to  advance  in  the  amount  of 
their  subscriptions.  In  consequence  of  an  error  of  this  sort 
in  ISSTj  the  Board,  ten  years  afterward,  stood  in  its  receipts 
nearly  where  it  did  at  that  time.  Here  it  is  emphatically  truep 
that  "  there  is  that  withholdeth  more  than  is  meet,  but  it 
tendeth  to  poverty." 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE  AGENCIES. 

The  Two  Branches.  — Agents  early  in  the  Half-Century.  —  Growth  of  System.  —  Brook- 
field  Auxiliary.  — Laws  of  Benevolent  Giving.  —  Productiveness  of  Agencies.  —  Or- 
ganizing of  Asso'ciations  and  Auxiliaries.  —  A  Model  Collector.  —  Causes  of  Decline 
in  Associations.  —  Missionaries  as  Agents.  —  Action  of  the  Board  on  Deputations  to 
Auxiliary  Meetings.  —  General  Agents.  —  District  Secretaries.  —  Proper  Sphere  of 
Agencies.  —  Cost  of  the  Agents.  —  Home  Publications  of  the  Board,  and  then-  Cost. 
—  Cost  of  the  Two  Branches  of  Agency. 

THE  Agencies,  or  means  for  raising  funds  for  tlie  support  of 
missionaries,  are  of  two  kinds  —  the  living  agent,  and  the 
publications.  The  outlay  for  these  .two  departments  is  nearly 
the  same.  The  cost  of  working  a  large  missionary  system 
does  by  no  means  increase  in  proportion  to  its  extension ;  nei- 
ther does  the  comparative  cost  of  the  agencies. 

THE  AGENTS. 

The  Board  has  always  found  it  necessary  to  employ  agents. 
The  first  was  the  Rev.  John  Frost,  from  the  Andover  Semina- 
ry, who  performed  a  successful  work  in  New  England  and  New 
York  toward  the  close  of  1811,  and  early  in  1812.  Agents 
were  afterward  employed  from  year  .to  year,  as  their  services 
were  needed,  and  they  could  be  obtained.  It  is  known  that 
about  seventy  have  been  thus  employed  who  pursued  their  the- 
ological studies  at  Andover.  Pastors  of  churches  have  also 
engaged  in  temporary  agencies.  Among  the  most  noted  of 
these  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Payson,  of  Portland,  Me. ;  and 
this  service  he  performed  more  than  once.  The  nature  of  his 
agency  in  the  year  1816,  is  thus  indicated  by  Dr.  Worcester : 
"  The  Prudential  Committee  request  you,  Rev.  and  Dear  Sir, 
to  spend  as  much  time  in  the  agency,  during  the  present  year, 
23  <177) 


178  THE  BOARD. 

as  may  be  consistent  with  your  other  engagements  and  duties. 
They  wish  you  to  visit  the  principal  places,  first  in  the  District 
of  Maine,  and  then  in  other  parts  of  the  country  ;  to  animate 
and  strengthen  the  associations  already  formed  for  aiding  the 
Board  ;  to  promote  the  forming  of  societies  wherever  it  may 
be  suitable,  and  to  do  what  you  can  to  unite  and  engage  the 
hearts  of  ministers  and  people  in  the  heavenly  design  of  im- 
parting the  knowledge  of  salvation  to  the  many  millions  who 
are  perishing  in  pagan  darkness  and  corruption." 

In  July  of  the  same  year,  the  late  Dr.  Elias  Cornelius  began 
his  agency  for  promoting  the  objects  of  the  Board,  and  especial- 
ly for  improving  the  character  and  condition  of  the  Cherokee, 
Choctaw,  Chickasaw,  and  Creek  Indians.  After  conferring  with 
the  government  at  "Washington,  he  was  to  visit  Mr.  Kiugsbury's 
station  in  the  Cherokee  country,  afterward  called  Brainerd,  and 
to  do  what  he  could  to  encourage  that  infant  establishment. 

In  the  year  1821,  the  Prudential  Committee  recorded  the 
fact,  "  that  the  clergy  belonging  to  the  Brookfield  Association 
(in  Massachusetts)  have  generally  entered  upon  a  plan  for 
receiving  the  regular  and  systematic  contribution  of  a  small 
stipulated  sum  from  each  member  of  the  church,  who  may  be 
disposed  thus  to  contribute,  at  a  stated  season  frequently  re- 
curring, the  aggregate  of  which  contributions  is  to  be  applied 
to  the  support  of  missions  among  the  heathen."  Whereupon 
it  was  resolved,  "  That  the  Committee  highly  approve  of  this 
method  of  increasing  and  concentrating  the  benevolent  exer- 
tions of  the  professors  of  godliness ;  and  that  they  respectfully 
suggest  to  their  brethren  who  have  manifested  a  peculiar  in- 
terest in  the  success  of  this  plan,  the  utility  and  propriety  of 
making  it  known  to  ministers  of  the  gospel  extensively,  and 
of  inviting  their  cooperation."  The  Auxiliary  Society,  subse- 
quently formed  within  the  bounds  of  this  Association,  adopted 
the  practice,  in  1826,  of  printing  not  only  their  Annual  Re- 
port and  proceedings,  (which  they  had  done  before,)  but  also 
the  names  of  all  the  subscribers  and  donors,  and  the  amount 
of  their  several  contributions  ;  and  this  they  have  continued 
to  do,  annually,  to  the  present  time.  The  Library  of  the 


THE  AGENCIES. 


179 


Board  contains  a  collection  of  the  Reports  of  this  Auxiliary, 
from  1825  to  1859.  The  volume  is  of  value,  as  affording 
means  for  determining  the  laws  which  govern  benevolent  giv- 
ing in  rural  districts.  Such  a  use  was  made  of  these  Reports 
in  a  Statistical  History  of  Benevolent  Contributions,  laid  before 
the  Board  at  its  meeting  in  1852.  The  Auxiliary  then  em- 
braced sixteen  churches,  each  with  its  own  male  and  female 
Missionary  Associations.  The  following  tables,  constructed 
from  the  Reports  for  1838  to  1841  inclusive,  and  for  1847  to 
1850,  show  the  number  of  subscribers  under  several  sums, 
from  six  cents  up  to  ten  dollars. 

SUMMARY  FOR  THE  YEARS  1838-1841. 


Years. 

Dollars. 

Fractional  parts  of  a  dollar. 

No.  of  con- 
tributors. 

Amount 
con- 
tributed. 

1838. 

Gentlemen, 
Ladies,  .  .  . 

Id 

5 

1 

3 

2 

1 

7500 

50 

40  37 

80 

25 

20 

12 

10  6 

725 
1,493 

$1,184.  15 
91739 

20 

-1 

11 
10 

2 

•1 

39 
21 

75 
64 

279 

240 

7 
27 

1 
7 

153 
415 

2 

C 

1 
9 

2 
1-1 

75 
441 

19 
144 

5 

3< 

4 

01 

W 

01 

e 

00 

139 

525 

34 

8 

508 

*8 

10 

10 

516 

163 

:;: 

00 

2,218 

$2,101  54 

1839. 

Gentlemen, 
Ladies,  .  .  . 

1840. 

20 

:; 

30 

* 

4 
5 

43 

10 

77 
58 

2a3 
264 

18 
45 

8 

176 
450 

1 
9 

1 
13 

4 
ll 

120 

528 

6 

2; 

43 
140 

6 
37 

19 
-11 

856 

1,055 

1,21145 
1,019  39 

23 

44 

0 

5s 

135 

547 

63 

8 

026 

3 

l-l 

10 

648 

33 

183 

42 

00 

2,511 

$2,230  84 

Gentlemen, 
Ladies,  .  .  . 

1841. 

37 
87 

29 

15 

44 

13 
8 

21 

4C 
2( 

00 

98 
69 

324 

281 

11 

24 

0 
0 

225 

478 

703 

1 

a 

1 
11 

11 

137 
535 

7 

42 

42 
161 

18 
37 

24 
67 

91 

1,013 

1,767 

1,571  13 
94264 

167 

605 

35 

4 

12 

11 

672 

-!'.» 

203 

00 

2,780 

$2,513  77 

Gentlemen, 
Ladies,  .  .  . 

34 

-It 

•>: 

11 

41 
19 

92 

85 

267 
290 

21 

54 

3 

2S 

184 
424 

1 

g 

1 
10 

6 
23 

144 
556 

28 
163 

6 

49 

19 
74 

902 

1,822 

1,526  85 
1,10937 

34 

71 

IS 

01) 

177 

557 

75 

31 

008 

0 

10 

29 

700 

191 

5593 

2,724 

$2,096  22 

GENERAL  SUMMARY. 

Years.                       Dollars. 

Fractional  parts  of  a  dollar. 

No.  of  con- 
tributors. 

Amount 
con- 
tributed. 

10 

5    4 

3 

2       1 

70 

60 

50 

40 

17 

id 

25 

ao 

12 

10 

e 

2,218 
2,511 

2,780 
2,724 

$2,091  54 
2,230  84 
2,513  77 
2,096  22 

1R38  ...     24 
ia39  ...     23 
1840  ...     37 
1841  ...    34 

US'1 

51 
44 
442 

71  1 

5    00 
>    OS 
1    06 
3    00 

139     525 
135     547 
107     (505 
177     557 

34 

63 
35 

75 

8 
8 

0 
!1 

508 
026 
703 

608 

8 
3 
4 

9 

in 
14 

12 
10 

16 

10 

11 

29 

510 
648 
072 

700 

33 

19 

103 

183 

203 

191 

35 
42 
55 
55 

00 

60 

9! 

03 

210  & 

1244 

818  2,234  5 

07 

52 

2,505 

24 

•)2 

71 

2,536 

83 

740 

187 

.'99 

10,233 

$9,532  37 

Average    29 

521 

3    01 

154     558 

51 

13 

626 

6 

13 

17 

634 

20 

185 

46 

74 

2,558 

$2,383  09 

*  This  should  be  stated  $10  and  upward;  thirty-five  of  the  subscriptions  were  over  $10. 


180 


THE  BOARD. 


1838,  Contributions  at  the  Monthly  Concert,  ....  $465  31 

1839,  "               "            "               "  .     .     .     .     647  97 

1840,  "               "             "                "  .     .     .     .     584  45 

1841,  "               "            "               "  .     .     .     .     509  82 


82,207  55 


Amount  of  Subscriptions $9,532  37 

From  other  sources, 276  14 

Contributions  from  1838  to  1841  inclusive, $12,01606 

SUMMARY  FOR  THE  YEARS  1847-51.* 


Subscriptions.  No.  of  subscribers. 

Under  ten  cents, 333 

Ten  cents, 315 

Twelve  and  a  half  cents,    .     .  448 

Twelve  to  twenty-five  cents,  .  173 

Twenty-five  cents,    ....  2,343 

Twenty-five  to  fifty  cents,  .     .  133 

Fifty  cents, 2,088 

Fifty  cents  to  one  dollar,  .     .  177 

One  dollar, 1,624 


Subscriptions.  No.  of  subscribers. 

One  to  two  dollars,  .     .     .     .  151 

Two  dollars 484 

Two  to  three  dollars,     ...  50 

Three  dollars, 250 

Three  to  five  dollars,     ...  52 

Five  dollars, 233 

Five  to  ten  dollars, 63 

Ten  dollars, 113 

Over  ten  dollars, 83 


Whole  amount  from  Subscriptions, $10,525  58 

From  Monthly  Concerts  and  other  sources 3,396  40 


Total, 


$13,921  98 


Whole  amount  for  four  years,  including  Monthly  Concert,    .     .    $13,921  00 
Average  annual  amount, $3,480  00 


*  The  following  results  were  obtained  from  an  examination  of  the  valuable 
statistics  published  by  the  Brookfield  Auxiliary :  — 

While  the  number  of  subscribers  diminished  on  the  whole,  the  amount  of 
the  subscriptions  increased.  In  the  first  period,  the  whole  amount  raided  in 
these  towns,  including  monthly  concert  contributions,  was  eleven  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  seventeen  dollars  and  ten  cents  ;  in  the  last  period,  it  was 
thirteen  thousand  nine  hundred  and  twenty-one  dollars  and  ninety-eight  cents, 
or  three  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty  dollars  and  fifty  cents  annually, 
upon  the  average.  This  is  about  one  dollar  and  thirty-six  cents  to  each  church 
member.  In  the  former  period,  the  average  annual  amount  was  about  one 
dollar  and  three  cents  to  each  church  member.  One  town  increased  in  its 
contributions  one  hundred  and  forty-two  per  cent.,  another  one  hundred  and 
five  per  cent.  The  increase  in  the  whole  Association  was  about  eighteen  and  a 
half  per  cent. ;  though,  according  to  the  number  of  church  members,  it  was 
thirty-two  per  cent. 

The  figures  show  that  many  members  of  these  churches  did  nothing  for  the 


THE  AGENCIES.  181 

Number  of  church  members  in  1850, 2,403 

Average  annual  amount  to  each, $1  36 

Amount  raised  by  the  Gentlemen's  Associations, $6,027 

Average  annual  amount, $1,506 

Male  members  of  the  church  in  1850, 702 

Average  number  of  male  subscribers, 763 

Average  annual  amount  to  each, $1  96 

Average  annual  amount  to  each  male  member  of  the  church,     .     .     .  $2  14 

Amount  raised  by  Ladies'  Associations, $4,208 

Average  annual  amount, $1,052 

Female  members  of  the  church  in  1850, 1,701 

Average  annual  number  of  female  subscribers, 1 ,433 

Average  annual  amount  to  each, $0  73 

Average  annual  amount  to  each  female  member  of  the  church,  .     .     .  $0  62 


Board.  In  fourteen  of  the  churches,  the  number  of  members  in  1850  was 
two  thousand  four  hundred  and  three,  but  the  average  annual  number  of  sub- 
scribers in  the  last  period,  in  these  towns,  was  but  two  thousand  one  hundred 
and  ninety-six.  Now,  many  subscribers  were  not  members  of  the  churches. 
In  one  parish,  the  number  of  subscribers  was  more  than  twice  as  great  as  the 
number  of  church  members.  There  must,  then,  have  been  several  hundreds 
of  professing  Christians  in  these  churches  who  did  nothing  for  this  society. 
How  large  a  part  of  them  contributed  to  the  cause  of  missions  through  other 
channels,  is  not  known. 

The  average  annual  number  of  male  subscribers  in  these  fourteen  towns,  in 
the  latter  period,  was  seven  hundred  and  sixty- three — sixty-one  more  than 
the  number  of  male  members  of  the  churches  in  1850.  The  female  members 
of  the  same  churches  in  1850  were  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  one,  and 
the  female  subscribers  in  these  towns  were,  on  the  average,  only  one  thousand 
four  hundred  and  thirty-three  annually,  for  this  period  —  two  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  less  than  the  number  of  female  church  members.  In  the  former 
period,  the  whole  average  annual  number  of  subscribers  in  the  same  fourteen 
towns  was  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-three :  viz.,  males,  eight 
hundred  and  twenty-six  ;  females,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  ;  number  of  church  members  in  1840,  two  thousand  six  hundred  and 
thirty-two :  males,  eight  hundred  and  fifteen ;  females,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  seventeen. 

In  both  periods,  therefore,  the  annual  number  of  male  subscribers  slightly 
exceeded  the  number  of  male  members  of  the  church,  while  the  annual  number 
of  female  subscribers  was  considerably  less  than  the  number  of  females  in  the 
churches. 

The  figures  show,  also,  an  increase  in  the  number  of  large  contributions. 
In  the  former  period  of  four  years,  there  were  but  thirty-five  subscriptions 


182  THE  BOARD. 

The  receipts  of  the  Board  were  more  than  doubled  in  1817, 
though  it  was  a  year  of  scarcity  and  pressure,  the  agencies 
having  been  considerably  enlarged.  The  number  of  agents 
employed  in  the  Eastern,  Middle,  and  Southern  States  was 
eight.  Mr.  Cornelius  was  one,  and  Samuel  J.  Mills  another, 
the  latter  laboring  in  Maryland  and  Virginia.  A  similar 
result  followed  the  use  of  the  same  means  in  1822.  In  1823, 
there  was  a  falling  off  in  the  receipts.  This  deficiency  was 
not  attributed,  at  the  time,  to  any  diminution  of  interest  in 
the  missionary  work,  but  to  the  want  of  agents.  In  the  year 

exceeding  ten  dollars  in  amount,  and  eighty-four  of  just  ten.  In  the  latter 
period,  there  were  eighty-three  exceeding  ten  dollars,  and  one  hundred  and 
thirteen  of  just  ten.  The  number  of  subscriptions  exceeding  two  dollars,  in 
the  former  period,  was  six  hundred  and  twenty-six ;  but  in  the  latter  it  was 
eight  hundred  and  forty-four,  though  the  whole  number  of  subscriptions,  as 
stated  above,  had  diminished.  But  though  the  number  of  large  subscriptions 
increased,  it  was  still  painfully  small. 

Again.  The  figures  show  that,  though  some  had  gone  forward,  a  very  large 
part  of  the  subscribers  still  did  but  very  little.  Of  nine  thousand  one  hundred 
and  thirteen  subscriptions,  —  the  whole  number,  in  the  last  period,  omitting 
some  juvenile  associations,  —  three  thousand  six  hundred  and  twelve  were  in 
sums  not  exceeding  twenty-five  cents  each ;  and  six  thousand  and  ten,  or  one 
thousand  five  hundred  and  two  annually,  in  sums  of  less  than  one  dollar  each. 

The  figures  show,  also,  quite  too  conclusively,  that  the  amount  subscribed, 
generally,  was  by  no  means  regulated  by  the  exact  ability  of  the  subscribers. 
Subscriptions  were  in  convenient  sums  —  in  sums  which  constitute  a  kind  of 
units  in  our  currency.  Thus  there  were  three  hundred  and  thirteen  subscrip- 
tions of  ten  cents,  and  four  hundred  and  forty-eight  of  twelve  and  a  half  cents, 
but  only  one  hundred  and  seventy-three  between  twelve  and  a  half  and  twenty- 
five  cents,  and  then  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty- three  of  twenty- five 
cents.  There  were  only  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  between  twenty- five 
and  fifty  cents,  but  two  thousand  and  eighty-eight  of  fifty  cents ;  one  hundred 
and  seventy-seven  all  the  way  between  fifty  cents  and  one  dollar,  and  one  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  twenty-four  of  one  dollar.  From  one  dollar,  the  gen- 
eral rule  was  to  go  to  two  ;  from  two,  to  three ;  from  three,  not  to  four,  but  to 
five  ;  and  from  five,  to  ten.  So  that  people  need  not  be  urged  to  double  their 
subscriptions,  but  only  to  increase.  If  they  increase,  they  will  at  least  double, 
in  a  large  majority  of  cases.  The  twenty-five  cent  subscribers  will  not  go  to 
twenty-eight  or  thirty-one  cents,  nor  will  the  one  dollar  subscribers  often  go 
to  one  dollar  and  twelve  and  a  half,  or  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents.  Men 
do  not  calculate  so  closely  upon  what  they  can  give.  Some,  who  give  by  hun- 
dreds or  thousands,  may  make  such  a  proportionate  increase,  but  not  the  great 
number  of  small  contributors. 


THE   AGENCIES.  183 

1839,  the  Board  declared,  that  the  contributions  of  the  public 
generally  would  not  be  called  forth,  unless  agents  were  em- 
ployed to  make  personal  applications,  and  bring  the  matter 
home  to  all  classes  of  people.* 

The  effort  to  raise  funds  has,  from  the  first,  assumed  more 
or  less  an  organized  form.  The  Missionary  Herald  for  1818 
opens  with  an  address  to  Foreign  Mission  Societies,  other 
Associations  auxiliary  to  the  Board,  and  individual  patrons 
and  contributors,  signed  by  Dr.  Worcester.  He  says  there 
were  then  fifty  Foreign  Mission  Societies,  as  auxiliary  soci- 
eties of  the  first  rank  were  styled,  some  embracing  entire 
counties,  but  the  greater  part  established  in  large  towns,  in- 
cluding the  vicinities.  There  were  also  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  Associations  —  smaller  bodies,  male  and  female,  com- 
posed of  persons  who  could  not  conveniently  belong  to  the 
county  or  district  society,  but  were  willing  to  do  something 
for  all  or  for  some  of  the  objects  of  the  Board. 

In  the  first  two  months  of  the  year  1821,  donations  were 
acknowledged  from  as  many  as  seventy-eight  organized  bodies, 
in  about  one  third  of  the  towns  from  which  donations  were 
received.  These  Associations  contributed  just  one  half  of  the 
amount  received  in  those  months  ;  and  not  far  from  one  half 
of  what  came  through  these  Associations  came  from  forty-eight 
composed  exclusively  of  females. 

In  the  year  1823,  an  important  effort  was  commenced  to 
systematize  and  extend  the  organization  for  raising  funds, 
which  was  prosecuted  through  several  of  the  subsequent  years. 
A  plan  of  organization  was  carefully  considered  by  the  Pru- 
dential Committee,  and  published^  in  the  Missionary  Herald 
for  1823.  Two  kinds  of  societies  were  desired,  one  large,  the 
other  small,  the  larger  to  include  the  smaller.  The  larger 
societies  were  for  cities,  collections  of  towns,  or  counties. 
They  were  immediately  auxiliary  to  the  Board,  and  called 
Auxiliary  Societies.  The  smaller  were  for  towns,  parishes, 
school  districts,  and  were  immediately  auxiliary  to  the  larger 

*  Report  for  1839,  p.  36. 


184  THE  BOARD. 

societies,  and  called  Associations.  The  Auxiliary  Societies 
were  the  medium  of  communication  between  the  Associations 
and  the  Board.  It  was  also  deemed  expedient  that  every  town 
or  parish  should  have  two  Associations,  one  of  males,  the  other 
of  females.  The  reason  for  this  arrangement  was,  that  in 
most  places  greater  funds  would  thus  be  secured,  and  in  the 
manner  least  objectionable. 

The  Auxiliary  Society  was  composed  of  the  members  of  the 
several  Gentlemen's  Associations  within  certain  'prescribed 
limits.  It  should  have  included  also  ladies.  The  contri- 
bution of  any  sum  annually,  from  a  gentleman  or  lady,  was 
all  that  was  needful  to  membership  in  the  Association.  The 
main  object  of  this  local  organization  was  to  secure  the 
annual  appointment  of  a  sufficient  number  of  collectors,  male 
and  female,  to  present  the  application  to  every  suitable  person 
within  the  limits  of  the  Association.  This  was  the  essential 
thing ;  and  it  was  proposed  to  have  both  male  and  female 
collectors,  and  separate  societies  of  ladies. 

The  subscription,  if  subscriptions  were  taken,  was  only  for 
the  year,  and  of  course  would  have  to  be  repeated  annually. 
Supposing  an  active,  faithful  body  of  collectors,  this  was  the 
best  arrangement.  It  would  tend  to  create  a  feeling  of  re- 
sponsibility in  the  collectors ;  unless  they  acted,  the  Associa- 
tion died.  It  secured  a  good  share  of  action,  which  would 
conduce  not  a  little  to  the  life  and  perpetuity  of  the  Associa- 
tion. It  might  fairly  be  presumed  that  the  standard  of  lib- 
erality would  rise  from  year  to  year  in  a  place  where  this 
system  was  in  operation  ;  and  persons  would  be  likely  to  sub- 
scribe more  liberally,  where  the  subscription  was  to  be  made 
for  one  year  only,  than  where  it  was  for  several  years. 

The  first  Associations  organized  were  by  ladies  in  the  Old 
South,  Park-street,  and  Union  Churches,  of  Boston,  in  No- 
vember, 1823.  From  this  time,  the  work  of  organization  was 
prosecuted  rapidly  in  New  England,  by  means  of  agents  em- 
ployed for  the  purpose  ;  and  a  monthly  statement  of  the  exact 
progress  of  the  work  was  made  in  the  Missionary  Herald. 
The  greater  part  of  the  organization  was  effected  in  the  four 


THE   AGEXCIES. 


185 


subsequent  years.     The  result  of  this  effort,  in  1839,  is  exhib- 
ited in  the  following  tabular  view :  — 


STATES. 

Gentlemen's 
Associations. 

Ladies' 
Associations. 

Whole 
number. 

STATES. 

Gentlemen's 
Associations. 

Ladies' 
Associations. 

Whole 
number. 

63 
92 
91 
222 
0 
151 
96 
36 

Nun 

45 
86 
83 
209 
1 
152 
26 
17 

iber  of 

108 
178 
174 
431 
1 
303 
122 
53 

the  A 

69 
3 

5 
10 
81 
0 
3 
1 

18 
0 
0 
4 
35 
1 
2 
1 

87 
3 
5 
14 
116 
1 
5 
2 

New  Hampshire,  .  .  . 

Maryland,  

District  of  Columbia, 
Virginia,  

Massachusetts,.  .  .  . 
Rhode  Island,  .... 

Ohio,  

North  Carolina,  .  .  . 
South  Carolina,  .  .  . 

New  York,  

923 

680 

1603 

To  a  great  extent,  these  sixteen  hundred  Associations  were 
embodied  in  near  fifty  larger  associations,  called  Auxiliaries. 
Supposing  each  Association  to  have  had,  on  an  average,  four 
collectors,  then  more  than  six  thousand  local  agents  were  thus 
designated,  by  their  own  people,  for  the  service  of  collecting 
funds.* 

*  A  description  of  one  of  these  collectors,  a  fine  specimen  of  his  class,  has 
been  furnished  by  Dr.  A.  C.  Thompson :  — 

"  Deacon  Lewis  M.  Norton,  of  Goshen,  Conn.,  commenced  acting  as  a  col- 
lector the  second  year  after  the  formation  of  the  Litchfield  County  Auxiliary, 
and  continued  in  the  service  more  than  thirty  years.  He  performed  this  entire 
work  for  the  town  alone,  and  every  year,  with  one  exception  when  he  was  sick. 
His  son  then  acted  for  him.  He  commenced  his  work  in  season,  at  least  one 
week  before  the  county  anniversary,  and  was  always  ready  to  report  in  full  at 
the  general  meeting.  His  private  affairs  required  great  activity  on  his  part,  yet 
he  devoted  an  entire  week,  annually,  to  this  business.  His  visits  to  families 
were  always  pleasant,  and  he  laid  out  his  routes  in  such  a  way  as  would  enable 
him  to  dine  where  he  expected  to  get  no  money.  His  subscription  lists, 
receipted  by  the  treasurer  of  the  Auxiliary,  are  all  still  on  file  among  his 
papers.  The  treasurer  was  for  many  years  the  venerable  Colonel  Talmadge, 
of  Litchfield,  at  whose  house  the  collectors  and  their  wives  were  expected  to 
dine  on  the  day  of  the  anniversary.  My  impression  is,  that  that  Auxiliary 
was,  at  least  in  its  earlier  years,  one  of  the  most  successful  of  the  kind ;  and 
that,  in  proportion  to  property  and  population,  more  was  contributed  in  Goshen 
than  in  any  other  town  in  the  county  or  state.  I  have  at  leas*  heard  that 
affirmed,  but  have  no  data  for  substantiating  the  same." 

24 


186  THE  BOARD. 

After  the  lapse  of  twelve  or  fifteen  years,  in  the  year  1839, 
it  was  found  that  remittances  were  made  by  only  one  fourth 
of  the  Gentlemen's  Associations,  while  more  than  two  thirds 
of  the  Associations  composed  wholly  of  ladies  gave  proof  of 
an  actual  and  healthful  existence.  The  system  had  naturally 
suffered  from  the  lapse  of  time,  but  more  from  the-  fact  that 
other  benevolent  societies,  seeing  its  efficacy,  had  adopted  it 
in  many  places ;  and  so  many  objects  were  thus  presented 
in  some  districts,  as  to  bring  the  use  of  collectors  into  disre- 
pute. In  some  of  the  best  portions  of  New  England,  pastors 
interfered,  and  insisted  that  only  the  more  expensive  depart- 
ments of  benevolence  should  send  collectors  through  their 
parishes  ;  and  there  the  system  still  exists  substantially,  and 
works  to  general  satisfaction. 

The  Prudential  Committee  early  declared  their  conviction 
that  it  was  useful  to  the  cause,  and  to  missionaries  under  ap- 
pointment but  not  yet  entered  upon  their  work,  that  they 
serve  in  agencies  at  home,  until  ready  to  go  forth  on  their 
mission.  From  forty  to  fifty  were  thus  employed  in  the  first 
thirty  years  of  the  Board's  history,  and  with  all  the  advan- 
tages anticipated  by  the  Committee.  In  process  of  time, 
however,  this  species  of  agency  lost  much  of  its  power  to  in- 
terest and  move  the  churches.  The  mere  fact  of  missionary 
consecration  ceased  to  confer  the  prestige  it  did  at  first,  and 
the  general  diffusion  of  information  concerning  missions  and 
the  heathen  world  had  greatly  abated  the  power  of  this  class 
of  agents  to  impart  novelty  to  their  addresses.  Thencefor- 
ward the  chief  demand  for  the  services  of  missionaries  in  the 
churches  was  during  their  visits  to  their  native  land,  after  years 
of  toil  in  the  foreign  field ;  and  their  reports  of  what  they  had 
seen  of  the  Lord's  doings  among  the  heathen  seem  not  yet 
to  have  lost  any  of  their  interest. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  in  New  York  city,  in  the  year 
1827,  —  one  of  its  more  influential  meetings,  —  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  consider  the  duties  of  members  of  the  Board. 
That  committee  made  the  following  report :  — 


THE  AGENCIES.  187 

"  As  far  as  has  come  to  our  knowledge,  it  is  the  opinion  of 
the  friends  of  missions  generally,  and  decidedly  the  opinion 
of  your  committee,  that  the  plan  now  in  operation,  of  keeping 
alive  the  missionary  spirit  in  this  country  and  supplying  the 
treasury  of  the  Board  through  the  instrumentality  of  Asso- 
ciations and  Auxiliary  Societies,  is  the  most  simple,  effective, 
and  desirable  that  has  been  devised  for  this  purpose ;  that  all 
previous  measures  have  been  abandoned  as  unsatisfactory, 
and  could  not  easily  be  reverted  to,  even  were  they  desirable ; 
and  that  the  most  serious  ill  consequences  are  to  be  appre- 
hended, should  the  favor  of  the  community  toward  the  Aux- 
iliary Societies  be  lost,  or  in  any  great  degree  diminished. 

"  It  is  the  common  belief,  that  this  Board  has  become  pledged 
to  its  Auxiliaries  to  send  them  a  deputation  of  persons  to  be 
present  at  their  anniversary  meetings,  with  the  view  of  en- 
couraging and  stimulating  to  continued  exertions,  and  of 
communicating  such  useful  and  interesting  intelligence  in 
respect  to  the  missionary  enterprise,  as  is  always  received  with 
satisfaction,  and  commonly  with  advantage. 

"  The  persons,  in  time  past,  who  have  been  deputed  for  this 
purpose,  when  Auxiliaries  were  few  in  number  and  confined 
within  narrow  limits,  were  missionaries  returned  from  foreign 
stations,  members  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  and  members 
of  the  Board. 

"  It  is  understood,  that  persons  of  the  first  description  will 
always  be  employed  for  this  object,  when  obtainable ;  that  the 
pressing  and  increasing  employment  of  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee renders  it  wholly  impossible  that  much  of  their  time 
should  be  spared  for  the  purpose  ;  and  that  it  remains,  there- 
fore, for  the  members  of  the  Board  to  assume  this  important 
duty,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  they  should 
assume,  and  discharge  with  punctuality  and  care. 

"  It  will  of  course  be  expected  of  the  Prudential  Committee, 
that  they  make  those  requisitions  upon  the  members  as  gen- 
erally, and  appoint  them  to  places  of  meeting  as  near  to  their 
residences,  and  otherwise  study  their  convenience,  as  circum- 
stances will  allow." 

I 


188  THE   BOARD. 

This  report  was  adopted,  with  the  following  resolutions :  — 

1.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Corporate  members  of 
the  Board  to  attend  the  anniversary  meetings  of  Auxiliary 
Societies  when  required  by -the  Prudential  Committee,  as  a 
deputation  from  this  Board  ;  and  that  the  traveling  expenses 
of  such  members,  in  going  to  and  returning  from  the  places 
of  meeting,  be  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  Board. 

2.  That  the  Prudential  Committee  be  authorized  and  requested 
to  take  such  measures  as  they  may  think  proper  to  engage  the 
active  exertions  of  the  Honorary  members  of  the  Board,  and 
of  such  other  clergymen  and  laymen  as  they  may  consider  dis- 
posed and  qualified  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  Board,  either 
at  the  meetings  of  Auxiliaries,  or  on  any  other  occasions. 

Historical  truth  requires  the  admission,  that  far  less  came 
from  these  proceedings  of  the  Board  than  was  anticipated  by 
the  remarkable  man  with  whom  they  originated,  Josiah  Bissell, 
Jun.,  and  by  those  kindred  spirits  who  acted  with  him. 

The  Rev.  George  Cowles  was  the  first  of  the  General 
Agents,  receiving  his  appointment  in  1826.  After  him,  at 
different  times,  until  the  year  1848,  and  in  different  parts  of 
the  country,  were  more  than  a  score  of  agents  sustaining  the 
same  appellation,  which  are  here  named  in  the  order  of  their 
appointment,  viz. :  Rev.  Oman  Eastman,  Rev.  Artemas  Bul- 
lard,  Rev.  Horatio  Bardwell,  Rev.  Chauncey  Eddy,  Rev. 
David  Magie,  Rev.  William  J.  Armstrong,  Rev.  Richard  C. 
Hand,  Rev.  Harvey  Coe,  Rev.  Edwin  Holt,  Rev.  Jacob  D. 
Mitchell,  Rev.  William  M.  Hall,  Rev.  Erastus  N.  Nichols,  Rev. 
William  U.  Foote,  Rev.  William  J.  Breed,  Rev.  Frederick  E. 
Cannon,  Rev.  William  Clark,  Rev.  Harvey  Curtis,  Rev.  David 
Malm,  Rev.  Orson  Cowles,  Rev.  Isaac  R.  Worcester,  Rev.  Ira 
M.  Weed,  Rev.  Samuel  G.  Spees,  and  Rev.  James  P.  Fisher. 

In  the  year  1848,  the  General  Agents  received  the  appella- 
tion of  District  Secretaries,  as  best  comporting  with  their 
official  duties.  That  portion  of  the  country  from  which  the 
Board  derived  its  funds  was  divided  into  thirteen  districts, 
each  of  which  was  to  have  its  secretary.  The  number  was 
afterward  reduced  to  eleven,  and  ultimately  to  eight.  The 


THE   AGENCIES.  189 

following  persons  have  held  or  now  hold  this  office,  viz. :  Rev. 
Messrs.  William  Clark,  Isaac  R.  Worcester,  Orson  Cowles, 
David  B.  Coe,  James  P.  Fisher,  Frederick  E.  Cannon,  D.  D., 
David  Malm,  Harvey  Coe,  A.  S.  Wells,  Ira  M.  Weed,  S.  G. 
Clark,  H.  A.  Tracy,  0.  P.  Hoyt,  J.  H.  Pettingill,  William 
Warren,  John  McLeod,  A.  Montgomery,  and  Calvin  Clark. 
Ten  District  Secretaries  were  under  appointment  in  the  year 
1849  :  the  number  has  been  somewhat  reduced. 

Whatever  name  may  be  given  to  the  agency,  it  is  strictly 
auxiliary  to  the  pastoral  office,  and  to  be  employed  only  where 
it  can  operate  with  advantage  to  the  cause.  Some  look  for 
the  day  when  agejits  will  no  longer  be  necessary ;  but  that 
day  is  still  in  the  future.  A  great  and  good  change,  however, 
has  long  been  in  progress  among  the  agencies  employed  by 
the  Board.  Since  the  year  1823,  the  effort  has  been  to  throw 
responsibility  for  raising  the  funds  upon  parochial  agencies, 
upon  collectors  appointed  by  the  people  themselves,  and  of 
course  upon  those  also  whose  duty  it  is  to  see  that  collectors 
are  appointed.  The  whole  responsibility  ought,  evidently,  to 
rest  there.  The  difficulty  has  been  to  create  and  sustain  a 
sufficient  local  feeling  of  responsibility.  Adverse  events  are 
constantly  occurring.  Pastors  and  active  church  members  die, 
or  are  removed  ;  there  are  ebbings  in  the  missionary  spirit ; 
adverse  influences  arise  ;  the  minister  is  in  need  of  aid.  Just 
in  these  circumstances,  and  such  as  these,  the  District  Secretary 
finds  his  vocation  ;  and,  with  a  large  district,  the  best  talents 
will  have  ample  scope.  Even  his  indirect  usefulness,  in 
quickening  the  piety  of  the  churches  into  a  more  active  and 
vigorous  life,  may  be  more  valuable  to  the  cause  of  Christ  at 
home,  than  his  pastoral  labors  could  be  if  in  charge  of  a  con- 
gregation ;  and  the  experience  of  the  Board  has  been  very 
decisive  as  to  the  necessity  for  such  labors  in  the  present  state 
of  the  churches,  as  a  means  of  sustaining  the  missions. 

The  annual  cost  of  agencies  employed  by  the  Board  in  its 
second  decade,  varied  with  great  irregularity  from  two, hun- 
dred and  forty  to  three  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  dollars ;  in  the  third,  from  one  thousand  one  hundred  and 


190  THE   BOARD. 

four  to  eight  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventeen  dollars,  the 
largest  outlays  being  in  the  middle  years  ;  and  in  the  fourth, 
from  six  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-one  to  fifteen  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  three  dollars.  The  fifth  and  last  decade 
hegan  with  fourteen  thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety-one, 
and  ended  with  ten  thousand  six  hundred  and  eleven  dollars. 
The  amount  of  agency,  from  year  to  year,  was  determined  by 
the  exigencies  of  the  cause.  Regarding  each  decade,  how- 
ever, as  a  whole,  the  increased  expense  of  the  agencies  is 
quite  noticeably  proportioned  to  the  increase  of  the  receipts. 

The  cost  of  the  agencies,  as  compared  with  the  gross  re- 
ceipts of  the  Board  from  the  beginning  of  its  operations,  is  a 
little  more  than  three  and  one  third  per  cent. 

THE  PRESS. 

The  home  publications,  in  this  department  of  the  Agencies, 
have  been  Annual  Reports ;  Annual  Sermons ;  the  Missionary 
Herald ;  the  Day  Spring,  for  fourteen  years ;  the  Journal  of 
Missions,  for  the  last  eleven  years;  Quarterly  and  Monthly 
Papers,  for  a  few  years  subsequently  to  1831 ;  occasional  Mis- 
sionary Sermons  ;  Missionary  Tracts  ;  Appeals  in  times  of  ex- 
igency. The  number  of  these  publications,  (not  including 
Appeals,  of  which  there  is  no  record,)  so  far  as  issued  at  the 
cost  of  the  Board,  is  as  follows :  — 

Annual  Reports, 166,750  copies. 

Missionary  Sermons, 115,250  " 

Missionary  Tracts, 1,582,879  " 

Missionary  Heralds,  (gratuitous  copies  in  the  eighteen 
last  years ;  the  number  in  the  previous  distribution 

is  not  known,) 199,074  " 

Day  Springs,  gratuitous  copies,       .     .     .     .     .     .     .  616,854  " 

Journal  of  Missions,  gratuitous  copies, 416,320  " 

Total 3,097,127 

The  titles  of  the  more  important  of  the  Missionary  Tracts 
are  given  below.* 

*  Conversion  of  the  World ;  or,  The  Claims  of  Six  Hundred  Millions,  and  the 


THE  AGENCIES.  191 

The  Panoplist  was  the  medium  of  communication  with  the 
Christian  public  in  the  first  years  of  the  Board.  The  Missionary 
Herald  was  first  issued  in  connection  with  the  Panoplist,  and 

Ability  and  Duty  of  the  Churches  respecting  them.  1818.  By  Rev.  Gordon 
Hall  and  Rev.  Samuel  Newell. 

Hints  to  Collectors.     1824.     By  a  Secretary. 

Missions  will  not  Impoverish  the  Country.  1826.  By  Rev.  David  T.  Kim- 
ball  and  Lyman  Beecher,  D.  D. 

Duty  of  Christians  to  support  Missionaries  to  the  Heathen.  1826.  By  Rev. 
Stephen  Frontis. 

Vindication  of  American  Missionaries  at  the  Sandwich  Islands.     1828. 

The  World  to  be  Reclaimed  by  the  Gospel.  1828.  By  Archibald  Alexan- 
der, D.  D. 

Letters  of  William  Penn.     1829.     By  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq. 

The  Future  Destinies  of  America,  as  affected  by  the  Doings  of  the  Present 
Generation.  1830.  By  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq. 

A  Comparison  of  the  Apostolic  Age  with  the  Present,  in  respect  to  Facilities 
for  Conducting  Missionary  Operations.  1832.  By  Lyman  Beecher,  D.  D. 

Trials  of  Missionaries.     1832.     By  Eli  Smith,  D.  D. 

Essay  on  the  Right  Use  of  Property.    1832.  By  William  G.  Schauffler,  D.  D. 

Character  and  Condition  of  Females  in  Heathen  Countries.  1833.  By  Rev. 
Henry  Lyman. 

The  Spirit  of  Primitive  Christianity.     1833.     By  Rev.  Samuel  Munson. 

A  Call  to  Personal  Labor  as  a  Foreign  Missionary.  By  William  S.  Plumer, 
D.  D. 

The  Extent  of  the  Missionary  Enterprise.     By  Gardiner  Spring,  D.  D. 

The  Moral  Condition  and  Prospects  of  the  Heathen.  1833.  By  B.  B.  Wis- 
ner,  D.  D. 

Duty  to  the  Heathen.     1833.     By  Rev.  Ira  Tracy. 

When  a  Christian  may  be  said  to  have  done  his  Duty  to  the  Heathen.  1834. 
By  Rev.  David  Greene. 

The  Saviour's  Injunction  to  his  Disciples.     1834.     By  Rev.  Isaac  Bird. 

On  Deciding  early  to  become  a  Missionary  to  the  Heathen.  1834.  By  a 
Secretary. 

Letters  on  the  Constitution  of  the  Board.     1836.     By  a  Secretary. 

What  will  you  do  for  the  Heathen  ?     1837. 

Pray  Less,  or  Do  More.     1838.     By  Rev.  Hollis  Read. 

Appeal  to  Physicians.     1838.     By  Asahel  Grant,  M.  D. 

Missionary  Schools.     1838.     By  a  Secretary. 

The  Work  of  Missions  to  be  Progressive.     1840.     By  a  Secretary. 

Abstracts  of  Donations  for  1839,  1840,  1844,  1856. 

Manual  for  Missionary  Candidates.     By  the  Secretaries. 

The  Promised  Advent  of  the  Spirit.     1841.     By  a  Secretary. 

Proposals  for  raising  up  a  Native  Ministry.     1841.     By  a  Secretary. 

On  the  Use  of  Maps  at  the  Monthly  Concert.  1843*.  By  Edward  W. 
Hooker,  D.  D. 


192  THE   BOARD. 

both  were  edited  by  Mr.  Evarts.  It  became  a  separate  publica- 
tion in  1819,  and  the  property  of  the  Board  in  1821.  Owing  to 
difficulties,  delays,  and  cost  in  distributing  the  Herald,  be- 

Christian  Public  Spirit ;  or,  Living  for  the  Kingdom  of  Christ.  By  Rev. 
David  Greene. 

Report  of  a  Tisit  to  the  Levant.  1844.  By  Drs.  Rufus  Anderson  and 
Joel  Hawes. 

Refutations  of  Charges  against  the  Sandwich  Islands  Missionaries.  1844. 
By  Rev.  Joseph  Tracy. 

The  Theory  of  Missions  to  the  Heathen ;  or,  Office  and  Work  of  the  Mission- 
ary to  the  Heathen.  1845.  By  a  Secretary. 

Divine  Method  of  raising  Charitable  Contributions.  1845.  By  Elisha 
Yale,  D.  D. 

Control  to  be  exercised  over  Missionaries  and  Mission  Churches.  1845.  By 
a  Secretary. 

Cultivation  of  the  Spirit  of  Missions  in  Literary  and  Theological  Institu- 
tions. 1845.  By  Edward  W.  Hooker,  D.  D. 

Letters  to  Pious  Young  Men.     1846.     By  Rev.  John  Scudder,  M.  D. 

The  Agency  devolving  on  White  Men  in  Missions  to  Western  Africa.  1848. 
By  Rev.  John  Leighton  Wilson. 

Labors  and  Hinderances  of  the  Missionary.     1846.     By  Rev.  David  Greene. 

On  Missions  to  the  Jews.     1849.     By  a  Secretary. 

The  Missionary  Age  ;  or,  The  Time  for  the  World's  Conversion  come.  1851. 
By  a  Secretary. 

Missionary  Responsibilities  of  Pastors.     1851.     By  S.  L.  Pomroy,  D.  D. 

Grand  Motive  to  Missionary  Effort.     1852.     By  S.  L.  Pomroy,  D.  D. 

Statistical  History  of  Benevolent  Contributions  in  the  past  Sixteen  Years. 
1853.  By  a  Secretary. 

Claims  of  the  Missionary  Work  upon  the  Mental  Strength  of  the  Ministry. 
1855.  By  Rev.  David  Bliss. 

The  Oriental  Churches  and  Mohammedans.     By  Cyrus  Hamlin,  D.  D. 

Ought  I  to  become  a  Missionary  to  the  Heathen  ? 

Outline  of  Missionary  Policy.     1856.     By  Rev.  S.  B.  Treat. 

Letters  on  Polygamy.     1856. 

Oahu  College.     1856.      By  a  Secretary. 

Report  of  the  Deputation  to  India.  1856.  By  R.  Anderson  and  A.  C. 
Thompson. 

Report  of  the  Select  Committee  on  the  Deputation  to  India.     1856. 

Can  the  Board  be  kept  out  of  Debt,  and  in  what  Manner?  1859.  By  a 
Secretary. 

Historical  Sketch  of  the  Board.     1860.     By  Rev.  Isaac  R.  Worcester. 

"Value  of  Christianity  at  the  Sandwich  Islands.     By  Rev.  Ephraim  W.  Clark. 

Missionary  Schools.     (Second  Tract  on  the  subject.)    1861.     By  a  Secretary. 

It  is  proper  to  add,  that  the  Author  of  this  volume  is  responsible  for  the 
tracts  which  are  attributed  to  a  Secretary. 


THE  AGENCIES.  193 

fore  the  existence  of  railroads,  the  experiment  was  made,  in 
1823  and  some  subsequent  years,  of  printing  an  edition  of  the 
work  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  and  in  1853  at  Cincinnati,  0. ;  but  it 
was  not  wholly  satisfactory  in  either  case.  In  a  special  report 
made  to  the  Board  at  its  meeting  in  1841,  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee thus  remarked  upon  this  work,  and  on  the  importance 
of  a  wider  dissemination  of  missionary  intelligence :  •• — 

"  Aside  from  the  Missionary  Herald,"  they  say,  "  there  is 
no  vehicle  by  which  missionary  information  is  systematically 
and  widely  disseminated  among  the  patrons  and  friends  of  this 
Board.  Of  this  periodical,  not  more  than  twenty-two  thou- 
sand have  ever,  in  one  year,  been  circulated  in  this  country. 
This  number,  if  they  were  all  equally  distributed  among  the 
three  thousand  churches  from  which  the  Board  may  look  for 
its  funds,  would  give  only  about  seven  copies  to  a  church. 
But  the  manner  in  which  these  are  distributed  leaves  many 
whole  churches  without  a  single  copy,  and  oftentimes  many 
contiguous  churches,  not  poor  nor  small,  nor  in  parts  of  the 
country  remote  or  difficult  of  access,  with  not  more  than  one 
or  two  copies  each  on  an  average.  Yet  considerable  effort  has 
been  made  to  extend  the  circulation  of  this  work.  It  is  well 
received,  and  nearly  twice  as  many  copies  of  it  are  issued  as 
of  any  similar  periodical  in  this  country,  or  England.  Still, 
probably  less  than  a  tenth  part  of  those  from  whom,  if  they 
were  well  informed  on  the  subject,  the  Board  might  expect  to 
receive  patronage,  ever  see  the  Missionary  Herald,  or  in  any 
other  manner  obtain  regular  and  full  information  on  mission- 
ary subjects.  Hence,  with  regard  to  the  nature  and  objects  of 
the  missionary  work,  the  manner  of  proceeding  in  it,  the  his- 
tory, success,  or  present  state  of  the  several  missions,  there  is, 
even  among  those  friendly  to  the  cause,  a  want  of  information 
greatly  to  be  lamented,  and  which  must  be  removed  before 
this  work  can  be  expected  to  move  on  vigorously  and  rapidly.'- ' 

This  gave  rise  to  a  small  monthly  publication  called  the 
Day  Spring,  designed  to  be  an  auxiliary  to  the  Missionary 

*  Report  for  1841,  p.  39. 

25 


194  THE  BOARD. 

Herald  ;  and,  after  some  years,  that  gave  place  to  a  monthly 
paper  somewhat  larger,  called  the  Journal  of  Missions. 

The  cost  of  the  publishing  branch  of  the  Agency,  for  the  past 
fifty  years,  as  compared  with  the  gross  receipts,  has  been  exactly 
three  per  cent. ;  which  is  also  the  cost  of  it  in  the  year  1860. 
To  this  cost  of  publications  add  the  cost  of  the  agents,  and  it  is 
found  that  the  entire  cost  of  the  Agency  —  that  is,  of  all  the 
means  for  cultivating  the  missionary  spirit  in  the  churches  and 
procuring  the  funds  —  has  been  between  six  and  one  third 
and  six  and  one  half  per  cent,  on  the  gross  receipts.  Who 
that  has  had  experience  of  the  reluctance  with  which  even 
good  men  give  their  money,  will  not  have  a  feeling  of  grati- 
tude that  the  cost  has  been  no  more  ? 


CHAPTER   XII. 

RELATIONS  TO   GOVERNMENTS. 

Massachusetts  and  the  Charter —  English  Admiral  in  the  War  with  England.  —  The 
Alligator —  East  India  Company.  —  Charles  Grant.  —  Sir  Evan  Nepean  and  the 
Effective  Appeal.  —  Relations  of  American  Missionaries  to  their  own  Government. — 
Not  affected  by  the  Nature  of  their  Mission,  nor  by  their  Circumstances  and  Relations. 
—  Dispatch  of  Daniel  Webster  declaring'  the  Equal  Rights  of  Missionaries.  —  Subse- 
quent Declarations.  —  Government  of  Holland.  —  Netherlands  India.  —  French  Gov- 
ernment.—  Result  as  regards  Supreme  Governments,  and  as  regards  Local  Govern- 
ors, Embassadors,  Consuls,  and  other  Officials.  —  Duty  of  Praying  for  Governments. 

THE  difficulty  experienced  by  the  Board  in  procuring  its 
charter  from  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  year  1812, 
has  been  already  explained  with  sufficient  fullness.  The  war 
with  England  commenced  in  that  year,  and  the  merchants  of 
Salem,  having  a  large  trade  with  India,  were  desirous  of  send- 
ing an  agent  to  Calcutta,  for  the  purchase  of  goods  to  be  sent 
to  the  United  States  on  the  return  of  peace.  Knowing  that 
the  Board  was  anxious  to  forward  letters,  books,  and  supplies 
to  its  missionaries  who  had  embarked  early  in  the  year,  they 
offered  to  send  out  a  small  vessel  that  would  take  gratuitously 
whatever  the  Board  wished  to  transmit,  if  Dr.  Worcester  would 
procure  a  license  from  the  British  Admiral,  Sir  John  Borlase 
Warren,  commanding  on  the  coast.  This  license  he  succeed- 
ed hi  obtaining.  A  note  from  the  Admiral  gives  the  contents 
of  his  letter  of  protection,  which  ascribed  to  the  Alligator 
—  a  coasting  schooner  or  pilot-boat  of  only  seventy  tons  — 
more  of  a  missionary  character  than  had  been  claimed  for  her. 
On  reaching  Calcutta,  the  little  vessel  was  seized  and  con- 
demned ;  but  the  letters  and  parcels  for  the  missionaries  were 
forwarded,  after  some  delay.  The  Calcutta  agents  freely  ac- 
knowledged the  mercantile  objects  of  the  voyage,  and  it  is  un- 
derstood that  in  these  the  shrewd  merchants  were  successful ; 

(195) 


196  THE  BOARD. 

but  the  Company's  government  suspected,  or  professed  to  sus- 
pect, some  political  plot  concealed  under  the  guise  of  religion, 
and  were  consequently  the  more  severe  upon  the  missionaries.* 
Doubtless  the  Secretary  and  the  Admiral  were  led,  in  their 
interest  for  a  better  cause,  to  overlook  the  evidences  of  a  com- 
mercial speculation,  which  were  upon  the  very  face  of  the 
enterprise. 

The  East  India  Company  have  been  quite  as  tolerant  of 
American  as  of  English  missionaries.  Even  from  the  first, 
there  have  been  true-hearted  and  influential  persons,  both  in 
India  and  England,  upon  whose  friendly  intervention  the 
Board  and  its  missions  have  been  wont  to  rely.  Such  were 
William  Wilberforce  and  Charles  Grant  in  England.  The 
latter,  when  a  resolution  seemed  about  to  pass  in  the  Court 
of  Directors,  excluding  the  first  American  missionaries  from 
the  Company's  possessions,  presented  a  written  argument  in 
their  defense,  showing  that  the  governments  in  India  had 
assumed  powers  not  authorized  by  the  laws  of  the  British 
empire,  nor  by  the  law  of  nations.  The  Directors  avowed 
their  belief  that  the  object  of  the  missionaries  was  simply  the 
promotion  of  religion,  and  authorized  the  Governor  to  allow 
them  to  remain.  Such  friends,  too,  were  the  Rev.  Thomas 
T.  Thomason,  Dr.  William  Carey,  and  George  Udney^Esq.,  of 
Calcutta,  and  William^T^  Money,  Esq.,  of  Bombay.  Among 
these  should  be  numbered  also  Sir  Evan  Nepean,  Governor  of 
Bombay  in  1813,  to  whom,  at  the  close  of  that  year,  Messrs. 
Hall  and  Nott  addressed  their  eloquent  and  successful  plea  for 
liberty  to  remain  and  preach  the  gospel  in  India.  No  wonder 
that  such  an  appeal  as  the  following  overcame  the  official 
scruples  and  fears  of  a  man  so  well  disposed  toward  their 
object  as  Sir  Evan. 

"  It  is  our  wish,  that  your  Excellency  would  compare,  most 
seriously,  such  an  exercise  of  civil  authority  upon  us  with  the 
general  spirit  and  tenor  of  our  Saviour's  commands.  We  most 
earnestly  entreat  you  not  to  send  us  away  from  these  heathen. 

*  Life  of  Dr.  Worcester,  vol.  ii.  p.  237.     Tracy's  History  of  the  Board,  2d 
edition,  p.  40. 


RELATIONS   TO   GOVERNMENTS.  197 

We  entreat  you  by  the  high  probability  that  an  official  per- 
mission from  the  supreme  government  for  us  to  remain  here 
will  shortly  be  received ;  and  that  something  more  general, 
and  to  the  same  effect,  will  soon  arrive  from  England.  We 
entreat  you  by  the  time  and  money  already  expended  on  our 
mission,  and  by  the  Christian  hopes  and  prayers  attending  it, 
not  utterly  to  defeat  its  pious  object  by  sending  us  from  the 
country.  We  entreat  you  by  the  spiritual  miseries  of  the 
heathen,  who  are  daily  perishing  before  your  eyes,  and  under 
your  Excellency's  government,  not  to  prevent  us  from  preach- 
ing Christ  to  them.  We  entreat  you  by  the  blood  of  Jesus, 
which  he  shed  to  redeem  them.  As  ministers  of  Him  who 
has  all  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  and  who,  with  his  fare- 
well and  ascending  voice,  commanded  his  ministers  to  go  and 
teach  all  nations,  we  entreat  you  not  to  prohibit  us  from  teach- 
ing these  heathen.  By  all  the  principles  of  our  holy  religion, 
by  which  you  hope  to  be  saved,  we  entreat  you  not  to  hinder 
us  from  preaching  the  same  religion  to  these  perishing  idola- 
ters. By  all  the  solemnities  of  the  judgment  day,  when  your 
Excellency  must  meet  your  heathen  subjects  before  God's  tri- 
bunal, we  entreat  you  not  to  hinder  us  from  preaching  to  them 
that  gospel,  .which  is  able  to  prepare  them,  as  well  as  you,  for 
that  awful  day.  We  entreat  your  Excellency  not  to  oppose 
the  prayers  and  efforts  of  the  Church,  by  sending  back  those 
whom  the  Church  has  sent  forth  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  to 
preach  his  gospel  among  the  heathen ;  and  we  earnestly  be- 
seech Almighty  God  to  prevent  such  an  act,  and  now  and  ever 
to  guide  your  Excellency  in  that  way  which  shall  be  most 
pleasing  in  his  sight."* 

England  and  America  were  then  at  war,  but  these  two  mis- 
sionaries were  recognized  by  the  Governor  in  their  higher 
relations  to  the  peaceful  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Circumstances  led  to  a  formal  discussion  of  the  relations  of 
American  missionaries  to  their  own  government,  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Board  in  1842.  The  question  affected  the  rights 


198  THE  BOARD. 

of  persons.  It  was  argued,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  nature 
of  a  foreign  mission  to  weaken  the  missionary's  claims  as  an 
American  citizen,  and  the  argument  was  thus  stated  :  — 

1.  The  Christian  ministry,  besides  having  an  express  divine 
appointment,  is  an  original  and  essential  element  of  all  Chris- 
tian society.     It  forms  a  portion  of  the  community,  —  a  dis- 
tinct profession,  having  its  peculiar  and  appropriate  employ- 
ments,— as  much  so  as  any  of  the  secular  professions,  whether 
of  law,  or  medicine,  or  commerce.     In  the  practice  of  its  ap- 
propriate duties,  the  clerical  profession  is  as  much  entitled  to 
claim  the  protection  of  the  government  of  its  country,  as  any 
of  the  other  classes  composing  the  body  politic.     If  the  views 
which,  as  a  citizen,  he  has  a  right  to  take  of  the  duties  apper- 
taining to  his  profession,  lead  him  to  go  and  preach  the  gospel 
abroad,  wherever  he  may  go,  he  is  as  much  entitled  to  the  pro- 
tection of  his  government,  while  demeaning  himself  like  a 
good  citizen,  as  if  he  were  a  merchant. 

2.  The  Christian  ministry  exists  for  a  twofold  object,  viz. : 
to  sustain  the  institutions  of  the  gospel  in  evangelized  nations, 
and  to  propagate  them  in  nations  that  are  unevangelized. 
This  has  been  the  common  opinion  in  all  ages.    .Indeed,  the 
propagation  of  the  gospel  by  the  ministry  has  a  special  prom- 
inence given  to  it  in  the  Scriptures,  as  well  as  by  the  moral 
condition  of  the  world  hitherto. 

3.  Those  clergymen  who  engage  in  foreign  missions  not 
only  pursue  a  business  which  belongs  appropriately  to  their 
profession,  and  in  performing  which  they  may,  of  their  own 
right,  claim  the  protection  of  their  country,  but  they  are  also 
the  agents,  in  this  business,  of  a  very  numerous  and  respecta- 
ble body  of  citizens.     There  are  many  hundred  thousands  in 
our  community  who  have  an  interest  more  or  less  in  this  en- 
terprise of  Christian  benevolence.     They  contribute   for  its 
support.     The  missionary  is  their  agent.     Their  rights  are 
involved   with  his.      They   are   partners   with   him   in    this 
business. 

4.  The  Act  of  Incorporation  given  to  the  Board  in  the  year 


RELATIONS  TO  GOVERNMENTS.  199 

1810,  by  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  recognizes  missions 
to  unevangelized  nations  as  a  lawful  and  proper  work  for 
American  citizens  to  engage  in.  The  Board  is  incorporated 
and  made  a  body  politic  by  the  name  of  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  —  for  the  purpose  of 
propagating  the  gospel  in  heathen  lands  by  supporting  mis- 
sionaries and  diffusing  a  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
This  is  the  language  of  the  charter.  The  Act,  though  given 
by  a  single  State,  is  practically  recognized  by  all  the  States 
in  the  Union,  as  giving  the  Board  an  unquestionable  right  to 
receive  and  hold  funds  for  the  purpose  of  sending  Christian 
missionaries  to  heathen  nations.  Though  this  fact  may  have 
no  direct  bearing  on  the  question  of  a  missionary's  citizenship, 
it  must  be  regarded  as  legalizing  his  business. 

5.  Our  national  government  is  accustomed  to  give  passports 
to  missionaries,  knowing  them  to  be  missionaries,  when  they 
are  about  going  forth  to  their  work.  The  passports  given  to 
missionaries  are  the  same  as  are  given  to  other  citizens,  certi- 
fying that  .they  are  American  citizens,  and  commending  them, 
as  such,  to  the  representatives  of  the  nation  abroad,  and  to 
the  governments  of  the  world.  Nor  could  these  documents 
with  any  propriety  be  refused. 

Nor  is  there  any  thing  to  destroy  these  claims  in  the  cir- 
cumstances and  relations  into  which  the  foreign  missionary  is 
brought. 

1.  The  first  fact  that  meets  us,  is  his  dependence  on  his  native 
land.    He  derives  his  support  from  thence.     He  looks  to  those 
whose  agent  he  is  for  the  means  of  living  from  year  to  year. 
To  these  patrons,  or  rather  to  the  Missionary  Board  acting  in 
their  behalf,  he  looks  also  for  direction  in  his  labors  ;  and  be- 
tween him  and  his  directors  there  is  an  active  and  intimate 
correspondence  as  long  as  he  lives.     In  point  of  fact,  his  rela- 
tions to  his  native  land  are  as  fresh  and  strong,  so  far  as  feel- 
ing, interest,  and  dependence  are  concerned,  at  the  end  of 
twenty  years,  as  at  the  outset  of  his  mission. 

2.  Another  fact  is  this — that  the  government  of  the  country 


200  THE  BOARD. 

to  which  the  missionary  goes,  never  recognizes  him  in  any 
other  relation  than  that  of  a  missionary  or  American  citizen. 
He  never  becomes  a  citizen  of  the  country.  Indeed,  no  mis- 
sionary of  the  Board  could  conscientiously  comply  with  the 
conditions  on  which  citizenship  is  conferred  upon  aliens  in  the 
British  empire  ;  and  in  barbarous  pagan  countries  there  would 
"be  folly  in  the  attempt  to  procure  it.  He  never  sustains  any 
other  relation  to  the  land  of  his  sojourn  than  that  of  a  mis- 
sionary. He  is  neither  banker,  nor  merchant,  nor  trader,  nor 
cultivator  of  the  soil.  He  does  not  own  even  the  house  he 
inhabits.  He  has  the  fewest  possible  ties  to  the  country,  the 
least  possible  hold  upon  it,  that  will  comport  with  the  per- 
formance of  his  missionary  work.  It  would  perhaps  conduce 
more  to  the  prosperity  of  the  cause  of  missions,  if  facts  were, 
in  some  respects,  less  favorable  to  the  strength  of  this  case  — 
if  missionaries,  for  instance,  find  it  easier  to  gain  rights  and 
privileges  in  the  countries  where  they  labor,  and  have  more 
inducement  to  aim  at  the  permanent  settlement  of  their  fami- 
lies. The  facts  must  be  stated  as  they  are.  Even  his  children 
he  regards  as  having  their  home  in  the  fatherland  ;  he  looks 
upon  them  as  Americans,  though  the  laws  of  our  country  in 
relation  to  children  born  out  of  the  country  are  not  what  they 
should  be. 

3.  It  is  important  to  consider  the  theory  of  foreign  missions 
in  determining  the  relations  which  missionaries  sustain  to  their 
native  land.  Regarded  theoretically,  missions  are  not  perma- 
nent institutions.  They  are  movable,  itinerant.  As  soon  as 
their  object  is  accomplished  in  one  place,  or  country,  they  are 
to  be  transferred  to  another.  They  are  designed  to  plant  the 
institutions  of  the  gospel,  and  then  they  leave  them  to  the 
conservative  influences  that  have  been  gathered  about  them. 
This  is  true  theoretically,  and  it  will  come  out  in  fact,  as  soon 
as  the  Church  shall  prosecute  the  work  with  becoming  vigor. 
Missions  are  not  colonies ;  they  are  not  settlements ;  they  are 
mere  temporary  instrumentalities,  employed  indeed  to  accom- 
plish permanent  results,  but  having  a  foreign  origin,  and  a 
foreign  support,  and  to  be  withdrawn  as  soon  as  they  can  be 


EELATIONS   TO   GOVERNMENTS.  201 

spared.  Hence  the  missionary  is  emphatically,  in  the  essen- 
tial principle  of  his  calling,  a  sojourner,  pilgrim,  stranger, 
having  no  continuing  city.* 

Early  in  the  year  1842,  it  was  found  necessary  to  bring  the 
subject  to  the  notice  of  Daniel  Webster,  then  Secretary  of 
State,  and  he  kindly  furnished  a  copy  of  a  dispatch  which  he 
sent,  under  date  of  February  2,  to  the  Minister  Resident  at 
Constantinople,  who  had  taken  too  restricted  a  view  of  the 
purport  of  our  treaty  with  the  Ottoman  government.  As  this 
is  believed  to  have  been  the  first  formal  declaration  of  our 
government  on  this  important  subject,  it  is  due  to  that  eminent 
statesman  that  the  dispatch  should  be  quoted.  It  was  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

"  It  has  been  represented  to  this  Department,  that  the  Amer- 
ican missionaries  and  other  citizens  of  the  United  States,  not 
engaged  in  commercial  pursuits,  residing  and  traveling  in  the 
Ottoman  dominions,  do  not  receive  from  your  legation  that  aid 
and  protection,  to  which,  as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  they 
feel  themselves  entitled ;  and  I  have  been  directed  by  the 
President,  who  is  profoundly  interested  in  the  matter,  to  call 
your  immediate  attention  to  the  subject,  and  to  instruct  you 
to  omit  no  occasion  where  your  interference  in  behalf  of  such 
persons  may  become  necessary  or  useful,  to  extend  to  them  all 
proper  succor  and  attentions,  of  which  they  may  stand  in  need, 
in  the  same  manner  that  you  would  to  other  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  who,  as  merchants,  visit  or  dwell  in  Turkey. 

"  Inclosed  is  a  letter  addressed  to  me  this  day,  by  Ex-Gov- 
ernor Armstrong,  of  Massachusetts,  a  gentleman  of  high  char- 
acter, which  will  explain  to  you  the  nature  of  the  representa- 
tions that  have  been  made  upon  this  subject,  and  which  it 
appeared  due  to  you,  as  well  as  to  those  interested  in  the  cause 
it  is  the  object  of  the  representation  to  shield  and  to  promote, 
frankly  to  communicate ;  and  the  Department  believes,  that  it 
will  only  be  necessary  to  invoke  your  attention  to  its  contents, 

*  Report  of  the  Board  for  1841,  p.  36. 
26 


202  THE  BOARD. 

to  insure  from  you,  in  future,  to  the  individuals  described,  what 
this  government  expects  from  its  representatives  abroad,  in  all 
cases  where  citizens  of  the  United  States  are  concerned." 

Edward  Everett  and  Lewis  Cass,  when  afterward  in  the 
same  high  office,  distinctly  recognized  this  claim  of  the  foreign 
missionary.  Mr.  Marcy  did  the  same,  virtually,  in  measures 
for  a  decisive  rescue  of  Dr.  Jonas  King  from  unjust  oppression 
by  the  Greek  government  at  Athens. 

It  has  sometimes,  though  rarely,  been  found  expedient  for 
the  Board  to  seek  relief  from  grievances  by  direct  appeals  to 
foreign  governments.  In  the  year  1839,  the  Eev.  Dr.  Robert 
Baird,  who  was  then  living  in  Paris,  made,  at  the  request  of 
the  Prudential  Committee,  a  very  satisfactory  visit  to  Holland 
in  relation  to  the  restrictions  imposed  on  missionaries  from  the 
Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church,  whom  the  Board  had  sent 
to  Netherlands  India  in  the  preceding  year. 

Two  years  later,  as  a  means  of  .obtaining  information,  and  of 
conciliating  the  government  of  Holland,  the  Committee,  in  con- 
currence with  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  sent  the  Rev.  Isaac  Ferris,  D.  D.,  to  that  coun- 
try. Dr.  Ferris  reached  Rotterdam  in  June,  and  was  received 
with  great  kindness  and  respect  by  Mr.  Ledeboer,  Secretary 
of  the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society,  and  by  the  Board  of 
Directors  of  that  institution.  He  found  that  society  not  a  lit- 
tle embarrassed  by  a  late  restriction  of  the  government,  re- 
quiring them  to  send  to  Netherlands  India  only  native  Dutch 
missionaries,  of  whom  few  were  to  be  obtained.  A  committee 
had  gone  to  the  seat  of  government  to  effect  the  removal  of 
this  restriction  ;  and  the  Directors  instructed  them  to  seek  the 
removal  of  the  restrictions  imposed  on  the  missionaries  from 
the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  of  the  United  States.  The  com- 
mittee no  doubt  pleaded  the  cause  of  their  American  brethren 
with  ability  and  faithfulness  ;  but  the  result  was  unfavorable 
in  every  respect.  Dr.  Ferris  now  went  to  the  Hague,  and  had 
an  interview  with  the  Minister  for  the  colonies,  who  expressed 
the  most  friendly  regard  for  the  American  branch  of  the  Dutch 
Church,  and  confidence  in  its  missionaries ;  but  stated  that  the 


RELATIONS  TO   GOVERNMENTS.  203 

exclusion  of  fQr_eign_ers^frpm  their  interior  possessions  in  the 
Indian  Archipelago  was  a  principle  of  settled  state  policy. 
The  American  missionariesjwould  be  restrictedjtoJBorneo,  and 
required  to  spend  some  time  in  Batavia  before  going  thither. 
The  Minister,  however,  assured  Dr.  Ferris  that  the  colonial 
authorities  would  be  instructed  to  give  countenance  and  facil- 
ities to  our  mission  in  Borneo,  botli  on  the  coast  and  in  the 
interior.*  The  mission  of  Dr.  Ferris,  though  not  successful 
in  its  main  object,  led  to  the  transfer^ of  the  Chinese  branch  of 
the  Borneo  mission  to  Amoy,  in  China,  and  threw  light  upon 
the  subsequent  duty  of  the  Board  with  respect  to  Netherlands 
India.  In  June,  1843,  the  members  of  the  Borneo  mission, 
being  no  longer  able  to  endure  the  embarrassments  thrown  in 
their  way  by  the  Dutch  Resident  at  Pontianak,  addressed  a 
memorial  to  the  Governor  General  of  Netherlands  India,  in 
which  their  missionary  office  appears  to  good  advantage  in 
their  respectful  but  dignified  and  decisive  appeals. 

The  Queen  of  Louis  Philippe,  King  of  France,  is  understood 
to  have  been  a  woman  of  strong  religious  sentiment,  and  to 
have  taken  an  interest  in  the  success  of  Roman  Catholic  mis- 
sions. Missionaries  of  the  Board  in  Western  Africa  were  led  to 
believe,  from  their  intercourse  with  French  naval  officers,  that 
some  of  them  looked  for  advancement  through  her  influence, 
as  a  consequence  of  the  zeal  they  should  manifest  for  these 
missions ;  and  that  much  of  the  annoyance  of  Protestant  mis- 
sions in  the  Pacific  Ocean  from  French  naval  officers,  during 
the  reign  of  Louis  Philippe,  was  from  this  cause.  To  dimin- 
ish, if  possible,  the  evils  resulting  from  such  interference  at 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Baird,  being  in  Paris  in 
1841,  was  requested  to  convey  to  the  king,  if  possible,  a  letter 
from  the  Prudential  Committee  in  relation  to  the  disastrous 
visit  of  Captain  La  Place  and  the  frigate  L'Artemise  at  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  Aided  by  General  Cass,  the  American 
Minister,  Dr.  Baird  obtained  the  desired  interview,  presented 
the  letter,  and  stated  to  the  king  its  more  important  points. 

*  Report  of  the  Board,  1842,  p.  167. 


204  THE  BOARD. 

His  Majesty  promised  to  read  the  letter,  and  its  accompanying 
documents,  and  to  give  the  whole  subject  his  most  serious  atten- 
tion ;  but  it  was  evident  that  he  had  previously  heard  the  state- 
ments of  the  Romish  missionaries  as  to  their  unpleasant  rela- 
tions to  the  government  of  the  islands.  Dr.  Baird  afterward 
saw  Guizot,  the  Prime  Minister,  and  stated  the  case  to  him. 
The  Minister  heard  with  evident  surprise  and  regret,  and 
promised,  with  every  appearance  of  sincerity,  to  have  the 
whole  matter  investigated  and  equitably  adjusted. 

While  the  experience  of  the  Board  favors  the  fewest  possi- 
ble direct  communications  by  Missionary  Societies  to  national 
governments,  —  where,  however,  it  has  never  had  occasion  to 
complain  of  disrespect,  —  it  has  had  abundant  occasion  grate- 
fully to  acknowledge  kind  and  generous  acts  from  the  colonial 
authorities  of , Southern  Africa,  from  local  governors  and  offi- 
cial men  of  every  grade  in  British  India,  from  the  successive 
English  embassies  in  Persia,  and  in  a  notable  instance  from  a 
Russian  embassy  at  that  court.  The  same  may  be  emphatical- 
ly said  of  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  for  many  years  English 
Embassador  in  Turkey,  whose  comprehensive  and  enlightened 
views  as  a  statesman  led  him  always  to  advance  the  interests 
of  his  own  great  nation  by  means  of  skillful  national  reforms 
and  religious  toleration  in  the  Turkish  empire.  Nor  has  there 
been  occasion,  since  Mr.  Webster's  dispatch,  to  complain  of 
our  own  representatives  at  the  Porte ;  though  their  power  to 
protect  has  been  less  than  it  would  have  been  were  their  mis- 
sion raised,  as  it  should  be,  to  the  embassadorial  grade.  Eng- 
lish consuls  in  Turkey  and  Persia  have  generally  been  as  kind 
and  obliging  to  our  missionaries  as  if  they  had  been  of  the 
same  nation.  In  Western  Africa,  even  French  admirals  and 
their  subalterns,  after  the  first  rough  experience  about  the  year 
1844,  have  been  gentlemanly  in  their  deportment,  and  ready 
to  oblige.  Excepting  the  disgraceful  scenes  connected  with 
Lieutenant  Percival  and  the  United  States  schooner  Dol- 
phin at  the  Sandwich  Islands  in  1826,*  the  visits  of  our  own 

*  Annual  Report  for  1827. 


RELATIONS   TO   GOVEENMENTS.  205 

national  ships  have  every  where  contributed  to  the  respectabil- 
ity and  safety  of  our  missionaries,  and  added  not  a  little  to 
their  happiness. 

All  who  desire  the  success  of  missions  should  make  con- 
tinual "  supplications,  prayers,  intercessions,  and  giving  of 
thanks,"  "  for  kings  and  for  all  that  are  in  authority,"  that 
missionaries,  in  the  several  countries  where  they  labor,  "  may 
lead  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life,  in  all  godliness  and  honesty." 
The  unevangelized  world  is  in  great  part  subjected  to  the  con- 
trol or  paramount  influence  of  governments  that  are  with  us 
far  more  than  they  are  against  us,  and  that  may  be  expected 
to  extend  to  us  a  reasonable  protection.  What  a  progress  in 
the  past  half-century !  "  This  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is 
marvelous  in  our  eyes." 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE    DECEASED    SECRETAKEES. 
Dr.  Worcester.  —  Mr.  Evarts.  —  Dr.  Cornelius.  —  Dr.  Wisner. — Dr.  Armstrong. 

DR.  WORCESTER  and  Mr.  Evarts  were  among  the  founders 
of  the  Board ;  and  the  well-drawn  outline  of  their  lives  and 
characters  in  the  sixth  chapter  will  suffice  for  a  notice  of  them 
in  that  relation.  But  it  will  be  proper  to  speak  somewhat 
more  fully  concerning  them  as  Corresponding  Secretaries ; 
and  also  to  commemorate  the  three  other  deceased  Secretaries 
—  Cornelius,  Wisner,  and  Armstrong.  This  will  be  done  as 
far  as  possible  in  the  language  of  their  immediate  associates, 
who  were  in  circumstances  to  know  them  thoroughly. 

SAMUEL  WORCESTER,  D.  D. 

Excellent  and  useful  as  Dr.  Worcester  was  in  ecclesiastical 
controversy,  and  as  a  preacher,  pastor,  and  councilor,  his 
greatest  claim  on  the  gratitude  of  posterity  is  in  the  official 
relation  he  sustained  to  foreign  missions.  The  failure  of  great 
and  good  enterprises,  or  at  least  the  disasters  which  befall 
them,  are  often  the  inevitable  consequence  of  some  radical 
error  in  the  incipient  stages ;  and  the  absence  of  fatal  errors 
in  the  scheme  and  working  of  the  Board  must  be  attributed, 
under  God,  to  the  admirable  sagacity  of  the  first  Secretary, 
acting  in  fraternal  understanding  and  sympathy  with  Mr. 
Evarts.  Moreover,  while  not  many  of  the  great  missionary 
problems  of  the  Board  were  actually  wrought  out  and  demon- 
strated until  after  his  death,  he  put  not  a  few  of  the  more 
important  in  the  most  hopeful  way  of  being  resolved.  The 
Board  itself  was  shaped  for  a  wise  and  steady  policy,  as  if  the 

(200) 


THE  DECEASED  SECRETARIES.  207 

great  disturbing  influences  of  fifty  years  had  all  been  foreseen. 
The  missions  beyond  sea  were  also  made  deliberative,  self- 
governing  bodies,  with  entire  freedom  in  ecclesiastical  matters, 
and  with  all  the  discretionary  power,  and  consequent  respon- 
sibility, in  the  use  of  funds,  that  comported  with  the  wishes 
and  claims  of  the  donors.  Had  the  master  builder  been  ena- 
bled to  look  down  through  the  ages,  he  would  not,  perhaps, 
have  done  so  well.  Human  wisdom  is  less  a  matter  of  fore- 
knowledge, than  a  correct  perception  of  the  present  relations 
of  things,  and  a  simple  conformity  to  the  present  indications 
of  Providence.  It  is  being  correct  in  the  step  next  to  be 
taken.  With  this  instinctive  perception,  this  heavenly  tact, 
Dr.  Worcester  was  eminently  endowed.  There  were  hardly 
facts  enough  then  for  constructing  a  theory  of  missions  to  any 
great  extent ;  and  where  the  Board  did  act,  as  it  must  needs 
have  acted  more  or  less,  upon  the  popular  notions  of  the  times, 
it  found  great  occasion  for  subsequent  modifications  ;  as  in  the 
value  of  direct  civilizing  agencies  in  missions,  the  influence 
of  the  higher  education  on  savage  minds,  and  the  training  of 
heathen  youth  amid  the  civilization  of  our  own  country.  But 
then  these  experiments  were  the  way  to  come  at  the  truth,  and 
they  led  to  the  more  correct  experience,  upon  which  the  mis- 
sions are  now  being  prosecuted.  Mr.  Evarts,  writing  under 
the  influence  of  Dr.  Worcester's  recent  decease,  shall  say  what 
more  is  necessary  concerning  that  great  and  good  man. 

The  faithful  pen  of  our  revered  associate  —  Mr.  Evarts 
writes  —  has  recorded,  in  the  last  letter  of  considerable  length 
which  he  ever  wrote,  the  formation  and  the  early  history  of 
this  society.  He  recorded  it  as  an  act  of  gratitude  to  God 
for  his  favor  to  the  rising  institution,  and  as  an  attestation 
(the  event  has  proved  it  to  be  his  dying  attestation)  to  the 
great  truth,  that  trust  in  God  is  the  only  safe  principle  of  the 
missionary  enterprise. 

When  the  Board  was  first  organized,  it  was  little  suspected 
by  any  one  that  its  concerns  would  soon  become  so  weighty 
and  complicated  as  they  actually  became,  or  that  the  duties 


208  THE  BOARD. 

of  the  Corresponding  Secretary  would  be  so  arduous  as  they 
actually  were.  Yet  the  choice  was  just  as  it  would  have  been 
had  all  these  things  been  foreseen.  Before  the  embarkation 
of  the  first  mission,  in  February,  1812,  there  had  been  little 
opportunity  for  active  labor.  No  funds  had  been  received,  no 
plans  of  extensive  operations  had  been  adopted.  The  Secre- 
tary, however,  had  not  been  slumbering  at  his  post.  Always 
an  observer  of  missions,  and  well  acquainted  with  the  modern 
history  of  attempts  to  propagate  the  gospel,  he  applied  him- 
self with  new  diligence  to  obtaining  a  correct  knowledge  of 
the  heathen  world  ;  to  learning  the  difficulties  and  discourage- 
ments which  every  missionary  society  must  expect  to  en- 
counter ;  and  to  the  consideration  of  those  great  motives  to 
action  which  the  steady  view  of  a  world  lying  in  wickedness 
will  impress  upon  a  pious  mind. 

From  1812  to  1817,  the  concerns  of  the  Board  were 
increasing  in  number  and  in  interest.  Several  cases  of  great 
delicacy  occurred,  and  the  occasions  of  anxious  deliberation 
were  much  more  numerous  than  any  person,  not  intimately 
acquainted  with  matters  of  this  kind,  would  ever  imagine. 
The  labor  of  maintaining  a  correspondence  with  the  mis- 
sionaries ;  with  others,  who  were  preparing  to  be  employed 
in  various  departments  of  the  missionary  work ;  with  the 
officers  of  similar  societies,  at  home  and  abroad ;  and  with  pa- 
trons and  friends  in  our  widely-extended  country,  must  have 
occupied  much  of  his  time.  Add  to  this  the  weight  and 
responsibility  of  planning  and  commencing  new  missions  ;  of 
providing  for  the  comfort  and  usefulness  of  numerous  families 
already  employed  or  to  be  employed ;  of  preparing  for  meet- 
ings of  the  Board  and  of  the  Committee  ;  and  of  laying  before 
the  public,  at  stated  intervals,  the  proceedings  and  results,  the 
hopes  and  prospects,  the  occurrences,  both  adverse  and  favor- 
able, which  had  any  bearing  on  this  great  concern,  —  and  no 
one  can  doubt  that  great  courage  and  industry  were  necessary 
to  carry  a  man  through  these  efforts,  amidst  the  cares  insep- 
arable from  the  oversight  of  a  large  congregation,  and  the 
public  consultations  to  which  reference  has  been  made.  Yet 


THE  DECEASED  SECRETARIES.  209 

a  vigorous  exertion  was  continually  sustained,  that,  while  the 
general  operations  of  the  Board  were  going  forward,  parochial 
duties  and  services  should  not  be  neglected. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  in  September,  1817, 
the  Secretary  informed  his  associates  that  he  could  no  longer 
continue  to  labor  as  he  had  done,  intimating,  at  the  same  time, 
that  it  would  be  a  great  relief  to  him  if  some  other  person 
could  enter  upon  the  duties  of  his  office.  The  concerns  of 
the  Board  were  constantly  multiplying  and  enlarging.  He 
had  for  a  long  time  been  obliged  to  give  up  all  seasons  of 
relaxation,  all  that  species  of  intercourse  which  is  commonly 
denominated  social  and  friendly,  in  distinction  from  the  details 
of  important  business,  and  the  performance  of  solemn  profes- 
sional duty. 

To  dispense  with  his  services  was  out  of  the  question  ;  and 
the  best  that  the  Board  could  do  was  to  propose  a  measure 
which,  if  acceded  to  by  himself  and  his  people,  should  release 
him  from  the  greater  part  of  his  parochial  duties.  This  meas- 
ure could  not  go  into  immediate  operation,  and  it  was  not  till 
the  summer  of  1819  that  the  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius  was  settled 
as  colleague  pastor  of  the  Tabernacle  Church  and  congrega- 
tion, with  the  express  provision  that  the  senior  pastor  might 
devote  three  quarters  of  his  time,  without  interruption,  to  the 
missionary  cause.  In  the  mean  while,  occasional  relief  had 
been  obtained  by  means  of  candidates  for  the  ministry,  and 
the  kindness  of  his  clerical  brethren,  who  appreciated  the 
value  of  his  services.  It  was  a  .matter  of  no  small  difficulty 
to  gain  the  consent  of  an  affectionate  people  to  an  arrange- 
ment which  should  deprive  them  of  so  large  a  share  of  a 
beloved  pastor's  labors ;  and  we  are  warranted  in  asserting 
that  nothing  but  an  enlarged  regard  to  the  interests  of  the 
Church,  and  a  firm  persuasion  that  the  cause  in  which  he  was 
embarked  might  well  demand  great  sacrifices  from  every  pro- 
fessed Christian,  could  have  gained  so  complete  a  victory  over 
private  attachments  and  personal  friendship.  To  the  honor 
of  the  deceased  it  should  be  added,  that  he  was  never  urged 
to  continue  in  the  office  of  Secretary,  and  to  consent  to  a 
27 


210  THE   BOARD. 

modification  of  the  pastoral  relation,  by  any  other  arguments 
than  such  as  require  the  followers  of  Christ  to  surrender  their 
own  ease  and  advantage  at  the  call  of  their  Master.  It  was 
clearly  seen  by  many,  and  not  less  clearly  by  our  departed 
friend  than  by  others,  that  a  continuance  of  his  labors,  on  the 
plan  proposed,  would  render  the  support  of  his  family  more 
precarious  than  if  he  were  simply  a  parish  minister ;  that  it 
would  fasten  upon  him  \in ceasing  care  and  toil,  exhaust  his 
strength,  probably  shorten  his  life,  and  leave  his  family  with- 
out those  claims  upon  the  kind  and  generous  feelings  of  his 
people,  which  would  be  promptly  acknowledged  were  his 
undivided  services  bestowed  upon  them.  All  this  he  saw, 
and  then  cheerfully  made  the  sacrifice. 

During  the  remainder  of  his  pilgrimage,  though  able  to 
accomplish  much,  and  that  in  a  very  effectual  manner,  his 
body  seemed  gradually  falling  a  prey  to  disease.  In  very  few 
instances,  we  apprehend,  have  the  mental  powers  been  pre- 
served in  so  vigorous  exercise,  to  the  very  close  of  life,  amidst 
pain,  weariness,  extreme  debility,  and  the  indications  of 
approaching  dissolution. 

JEREMIAH  EVARTS,  ESQ. 

The  Rev.  David  Greene  came  into  the  correspondence  of 
the  Board  in  1824,  six  years  before  the  death  of  Mr.  Evarts, 
and  married  his  eldest  daughter.  He  has  communicated  the 
following  estimate  of  Mr.  Evarts's  character,  and  of  his  public 
services  in  the  missionary  cause :  — 

Mr.  Evarts  labored  for  the  Board  twenty  years,  —  the  first 
ten  as  its  Treasurer,  and  afterward,  upon  the  death  of  Dr. 
Worcester,  ten  years  as  Secretary.  Indeed,  during  the  ten 
years  that  he  was  Treasurer,  Dr.  Worcester  residing  at  Salem, 
while  the  business  of  the  Board  was  transacted  at  Boston,  no 
inconsiderable  portion  of  the  correspondence  and  other  labors 
pertaining  to  the  Secretary's  department  was  performed  by 
Mr.  Evarts.  Excepting  the  individual  efforts  of  the  Eliots 


THE  DECEASED  SECRETARIES.  211 

and  Mayhews,  the  Brainerds  and  Edwardses,  and  a  few  others 
of  former  generations,  this  was  at  the  very  commencement  of 
the  foreign  missionary  enterprise  in  this  country.  There  were 
no  precedents  to  guide  the  executive  officers  of  the  Board, 
no  examples  to  be  followed.  Whether  for  raising  funds  and 
obtaining  missionaries  at  home,  or  for  conducting  operations 
in  missionary  fields  abroad,  principles  were  to  be  established, 
methods  of  procedure  devised ;  in  short,  the  very  foundations 
were  to  be  laid  for  operations  so  extended  as  to  correspond 
with  the  rising  abilities  of  the  American  churches,  and  as  per- 
manent as  the  wants  of  the  unevangelized  nations.  Into  this 
work  Mr.  Evarts  entered  with  all  his  heart,  taking  a  leading 
part  from  its  very  beginning  ;  and  for  it  he  was  well  qualified. 
Probably  no  man  in  the  country  was  better  informed,  or  had 
thought  more  earnestly,  on  the  subject  of  missions  than  he. 
As  editor  of  the  Panoplist  and  Missionary  Magazine,  he  had 
collected  and  become  familiar  with  all  the  accessible  publica- 
tions in  this  department  of  beneficence  ;  and  by  the  intelli- 
gence from  the  English  missions,  which  he,  as  editor,  had  dis- 
seminated through  the  churches,  he  had  done  much  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  organization  of  the  Board  in  1810. 

Mr.  Evarts  came  early  into  public  life ;  and  though,  at  the 
organization  of  the  Board,  he  was  not  thirty  years  of  age,  he 
was  widely  known  as  a  leading  man  in  the  Christian  commu- 
nity ;  and  wherever  known  was  beloved  and  confided  in  as  a 
man  of  sterling  integrity,  wise  as  a  counselor,  liberal  and 
candid  in  his  judgments,  sober  and  conservative  in  his  views, 
and  yet  eminently  enterprising,  public-spirited,  and  in  all 
respects  trustworthy.  Plans  and  measures  which  came  under 
his  consideration  were  carefully  studied  till  he  was  confident 
that  he  understood  their  bearings  and  results,  and  in  his  con- 
clusions he  had  great  self-reliance.  Hence  he  seldom  or  never 
had  to  renounce  crude  or  hastily-formed  opinions,  or  to  aban- 
don ill-concerted  plans  or  measures.  Few  public  men  have 
laid  themselves  open  so  little  to  the  charge  of  indiscretion. 
He  was  a  laborious  business  man.  Work,  any  kind  of  work, 
which  would  honor  Christ  and  do  good  to  men,  was  a  pleasure 


212  THE  BOARD. 

to  him.  His  mind  was  so  well  furnished  and  ?o  thoroughly 
disciplined  to  habitual  effort,  that,  though  possessing  little 
bodily  vigor,  he  could  perform  a  great  amount  of  intellectual 
labor,  especially  with  the  pen,  without  weariness.  He  was 
not  fastidious  as  to  the  particular  labor  assigned  him.  It  was 
a  remark  of  his,  that  while  he  would  not  wish  to  direct  what 
sphere  of  labor  Providence  should  assign  to  him,  he  would 
prefer  to  be  employed  in  the  foreign  missionary  work ;  but  in 
what  department  of  it,  —  whether  as  Secretary,  Treasurer, 
Agent,  or  Editor,  at  home  or  as  a  missionary,  —  he  cared 
little,  only  let  him  be  employed  for  Christ  and  the  heathen. 
This  expressed  the  spirit  which  he  manifested  through  the 
twenty  years  of  his  connection  with  the  Board.  Whether  as 
accountant  and  financier,  or  in  correspondence,  or  addressing 
the  friends  of  missions,  or  defending  the  Indian  tribes  against 
meditated  wrongs,  or  as  an  officer  of  a  church,  or  a  promoter 
of  temperance,  or  of  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  he  was 
always  the  earnest,  laborious  man  ;  never  declining  labor 
because  it  did  not  belong  to  him,  or  because  he  was  doing 
more  than  his  share.  The  motto  in  the  books  of  his  library, 
"  Nil  sine  mag-no  labore  vita  dedit  mortalibus,"  *  well  exhibits 
his  view  of  life  ;  and  he  cheerfully  accepted  and  acted  upon 
the  arrangement. 

The  social  qualities  of  Mr.  Evarts  contributed  not  a  little  to 
his  influence  and  success  in  his  work.  His  ability  to  adapt 
himself  to  all  classes  of  persons  —  to  be  the  intelligent,  affable, 
kind,  sympathizing,  Christian  friend  of  persons  of  all  habits, 
and  at  all  stages  of  life  —  eminently  fitted  him  to  hold  inter- 
course with  the  friends  and  patrons  of  the  Board,  and  with 
missionaries  and  their  families,  while  his  intelligence,  manli- 
ness, and  gentlemanly  deportment  gave  him  welcome  access 
to  men  in  all  the  highest  stations. 

In  those  early  periods  of  the  Board's  history,  when  almost 
the  whole  Christian  community,  both  ministers  and  laymen, 
doubted  the  wisdom  of  entering  the  foreign  field,  and  thought 

*  It  is  the  lot  of  mortals  to  accomplish  nothing  without  great  labor. 


THE  DECEASED  SECRETARIES.  213 

the  time  for  such  a  work  had  not  come,  little  sympathy  and 
encouragement  from  beyond  their  own  circle  could  be  expected 
by  those  who  assumed  the  responsibility  of  carrying  it  forward. 
Then  there  was  need  of  trust  in  God,  of  faith  in  his  promises, 
and  in  the  power  of  gospel  truth  and  motives.  These  graces 
Mr.  Evarts  possessed.  In  those  dark  times,  when  helpers  were 
comparatively  few  and  timid,  and  their  views  contracted,  when 
doubters  and  objectors  were  many  and  bold,  and  multiform 
difficulties  were  to  be  encountered  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
Mr.  Evarts's  courage  never  failed.  His  trust  was  in  God's  pur- 
pose and  promise  to  convert  the  world.  However  numerous 
were  the  opposers,  or  formidable  the  obstacles,  or  faint-hearted 
the  friends,  he  was  not  disappointed ;  for  he  had  taken  all  this 
into  account,  and  was  still  hopeful,  assured  that  what  God 
had  promised  he  was  able  to  perform,  and  that  his  time  and 
manner  of  carrying  his  purposes  into  effect  were  the  best.* 

ELIAS  CORNELIUS,  D.  D. 

Dr.  Cornelius  was  born  at  Somers,  Conn.,  July  31,  1T94, 
and  hopefully  converted  while  in  Yale  College,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1813.  He  studied  divinity  under  the  direction 
of  President  Dwight,  and  afterward  with  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher, 
and  was  licensed  to  preach  June  4,  1816.  Immediately  after 
this  he  was  commissioned  to  act  as  an  agent  of  the  American 
Board.  After  performing  a  highly  successful  agency  in  the 
States  of  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and  Rhode  Island,  on  the 
9th  of  April,  1817,  he  received  ordination  as  an  evangelist. 
He  was  then  sent  on  a  special  mission  to  the  Indian  country 
in  the  south-west,  in  aid  of  the  now  venerable  pioneer  of  the 
Indian  missions,  Dr.  Cyrus  Kingsbury.  At  Washington  he  had 
repeated  interviews  with  the  heads  of  departments,  as  to  the 
best  means  of  meliorating  the  condition  of  the  aborigines,  by 

*  A  Memoir  of  the  Life  of  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq.,  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  by  E.  C. 
Tracy,  8vo.,  pp.  448,  was  published  by  Messrs.  Crocker  &  Brewster,  Bos- 
ton, 1845. 


214  THE   BOARD. 

schools,  husbandry,  and  the  mechanic  arts.  Arriving  at  Brai- 
nerd,  he  was  joyfully  welcomed  by  the  missionaries,  and  his 
services  to  the  mission  were  various  and  important.  He  sub- 
sequently spent  three  months  in  New  Orleans,  principally  in 
the  service  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  Connecticut.  At  the 
close  of  his  useful  and  highly  acceptable  sojourn  in  that  city, 
he  presented  the  subject  of  foreign  missions  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  people,  and  obtained  more  than  a  thousand  dollars. 

The  following  touching  passage  is  from  a  sketch  of  Dr. 
Cornelius's  life  and  character,  by  Dr.  Bela  B.  Edwards,  after- 
ward a  professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Audover,  who 
was  associated  with  the  subject  of  this  brief  notice  while  Sec- 
retary of  the  American  Education  Society.  The  occurrences 
were  on  his  homeward  journey  from  New  Orleans. 

"  In  one  of  his  letters,  Mr.  Cornelius  thus  pours  out  -the 
fullness  of  his  feelings  in  reference  to  the  American  Board  : 
'  If  there  be  an  institution  in  the  world  which  I  love  most,  I 
speak  the  sincere  sentiment  of  my  heart  when  I  say,  it  is  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions.  I 
have  all  that  confidence  in  their  wisdom,  their  efficiency,  and 
their  piety,  which  excites  to  the  most  vigorous  exertion  in 
their  behalf  of  which  I  am  capable  ;  and  I  need  not  add,  that 
these  remarks  apply  most  emphatically  to  the  Prudential 
Committee,  and  their  indefatigable  Secretary  and  Treasurer. 
To  forward  their  views,  I  have  toiled  two  years,  and  never 
anticipate  greater  happiness  in  my  life  than  has  been  asso- 
ciated unceasingly  with  those  toils.'  The  following  animated 
description  of  the  interview  of  Mr.  Cornelius  with  Mr.  Evarts, 
forcibly  reminds  us  of  that  more  sublime  and  rapturous  meet- 
ing which  they  have  since  enjoyed  in  the  temple  not  made 
with  hands,  where  they  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst 
any  more,  where  tears  are  wiped  from  off  all  faces,  and  where 
the  Lamb,  who  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  is  leading  them 
to  living  fountains  of  water.  '  After  great  fatigue  and  consid- 
erable impediment  from  ill  health  in  the  low  country,  I  had 
the  indescribable  joy  of  arriving  at  the  missionary  station 
[Brainerd]  on  the  14th  of  May,  twenty-two  days  from  the  time 


THE  DECEASED  SECRETARIES.  215 

I  took  leave  of  Natchez.  I  know  not  that  it  is  possible  for  a 
human  heart  to  beat  with  higher  joy  than  did  mine,  in  once 
more  meeting  the  precious  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  mission. 
This  joy  was  rendered  more  intense  by  the  presence  of  Mr. 
Evarts.  It  seemed  as  if  the  ends  of  the  country  had  come 
together.  It  far  more  than  repays  one  for  the  most  fatiguing 
journey  ;  and  such  is  the  reward  of  Christian  missionaries.' ' 

In  this  tour  of  eight  or  nine  thousand  miles,  Mr.  Cornelius 
preached  three  hundred  times  in  behalf  of  the  Board,  and 
collected  seven  thousand  two  hundred  dollars.  He  was  pres- 
ent at  the  formation  of  a  church  at  Brainerd  —  the  first  of  the 
Indian  churches. 

To  enable  Dr.  Worcester  to  devote  the  greater  part  of  his 
time  to  official  duties  as  Secretary  of  the  Board,  Mr.  Cornelius 
was  installed  colleague  pastor  of  the  Tabernacle  Church  in 
Salem,  July  21,  1819.  His  services  as  a  pastor,  and  subse- 
quently in  connection  with  the  American  Education  Society, 
do  not  come  within  the  range  of  this  notice.  Yet  it  should 
be  said  that,  in  the  service  of  the  Education  Society,  he  trav- 
eled from  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand  miles,  and  raised  funds 
to  the  amount  of  between  one  hundred  and  twenty  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Upon  the  decease  of  Mr. 
Evarts,  he  was  elected  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Board, 
but  did  not  see  his  way  clear  to  accept  the  office  till  near  the 
close  of  the  year.  He  came  to  Boston  in  the  January  follow- 
ing to  consult  on  future  operations,  preached  on  the  cause  of 
missions  in  several  churches,  and  early  in  February  left  for 
New  York,  where  was  his  family.  At  Hartford,  he  was  pros- 
trated by  a  fever  on  the  brain,  which  terminated  his  invaluable 
life,  February  12,  1832,  when  he  was  scarcely  thirty-eight 
years  of  age. 

Dr.  Cornelius  was  not  spared  to  enter  upon  his  work  as 
Secretary  of  the  Board,  and  nothing  can  be  said  of  him  in 
that  relation.  He  died  on  reaching  the  middle  period  of 
life.  His  powers  were  developed  very  early  ;  he  was  not 
twenty-two  when  sent  on  his  special  agency  to  the  Indians. 
With  great  versatility  of  powers,  there  was  a  remarkable  har- 


216  THE  BOARD. 

mony  in  his  character.  His  talents  for  business  were  extraor- 
dinary ;  his  integrity  was  beyond  all  suspicion  ;  his  rare  energy 
of  character  was  founded  on  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his 
duties  ;  and  his  early  removal  occasioned  great  lamentation  in 
the  churches.* 

BENJAMIN  B.  WISNER,  D.  D. 

Benjamin  Blydenburg  Wisner  was  born  September  29, 
1794,  in  Goshen,  Orange  County,  N.  Y. ;  was  graduated 
at  Union  College  in  1813,  where  he  performed  the  duties  of 
tutor  from  1815  to  1818  ;  afterward  went  through  a  course  of 
theological  studies  in  the  Seminary  at  Princeton ;  and  was 
ordained  pastor  of  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston,  February 
21,  1821.  In  1832,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  three  Corre- 
sponding Secretaries  of  the  American  Board,  and  continued 
in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  that  office  till  his  death, 
which  occurred,  after  a  brief  sickness,  February  9,  1835,  in 
the  forty-first  year  of  his  age. 

The  author  can  not  give  a  better  delineation  of  Dr.  Wisuer, 
as  he  appeared  to  his  associates  in  office,  than  the  one,  sub- 
stantially, which  he  communicated  to  Dr.  Sprague,  in  the  year 
1851,  for  his  "  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit." 

Dr.  Wisner  became  one  of  the  three  Corresponding  Secre- 
taries of  the  Board  in  the  autumn  of  1832.  His  was  the 
home  department  in  the  correspondence,  —  having  special 
charge  of  the  system  of  means  for  raising  funds  and  procur- 
ing missionaries.  This  was  before  the  General  Assembly's 
Board  for  Foreign  Missions  was  formed,  and  the  entire  broad 
field  covered  by  the  Congregational,  Presbyterian,  and  Re 
formed  Dutch  Churches  was  open  to  him.  In  fact,  the  Pres- 
byterian churches  of  the  South  were  organized  for  action  in 
aid  of  foreign  missions  in  direct  connection  with  his  official 
agency.  He  had  been  four  years  a  member  of  the  Prudential 
Committee  of  the  Board  previous  to  his  election  as  Secretary, 

*  A  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius,  by  B.  B.  Edwards,  was  published 
by  Messrs.  Perkins  &  Marvin,  Boston,  1833,  pp.  360. 


THE   DECEASED    SECRETARIES.  217 

and  was  thus  enabled  to  enter  at  once  on  his  duties  with  the 
advantage  of  a  large  stock  of  appropriate  information. 

Dr.  Wisner  had  the  rarest  qualifications  for  a  secretaryship 
in  a  great  missionary  institution.  His  spirit,  naturally  some- 
what overbearing,  had  been  softened  by  a  partial  failure  of 
health  and  pastoral  trials.  Cheerful,  social,  rejoicing  in  the 
\isefulness  of  his  associates  and  of  all  about  him,  his  fine  con- 
versational powers  made  him  a  most  agreeable  companion. 
His  public  spirit  made  him  ready  for  every  good  work ;  and 
such  was  his  love  for  work,  that  he  seemed  never  to  grow 
weary  in  well-doing.  He  did  every  thing  promptly  and  thor- 
oughly, and  little  things  and  great  things  equally  well ;  not 
with  eye  service,  or  to  have  glory  of  men,  but  because  he 
loved  to  be  doing  good,  and  because  nature  and  grace  made 
him  happy  in  doing  with  his  might  what  his  hand  found  to 
do.  So  it  was  always  and  every  where ;  and  this  made  him 
the  man  for  committees  and  sub-committees,  on  which  he  was 
generally  to  be  found,  when  work  was  to  be  done  trenching 
largely  upon  the  hours  usually  appropriated  to  rest  and  sleep. 
He  was  a  model  of  a  business  man  —  wakeful,  cheerful,  col- 
lected, judicious,  laborious,  devoted,  disinterested.  It  was  no 
mere  official  interest  he  had  in  his  duties.  The  public  welfare 
was  his  own.  He  felt  a  responsibility  for  the  course  of  events. 
His  heart  was  in  the  great  cause  of  missions  —  in  every  part 
of  it. 

His  forte  was  executive.  But  he  had  great  power  also  in 
debate  in  deliberative  bodies.  As  a  writer,  he  did  not  readily 
adapt  himself  to  the  popular  mind.  There  was  a  lack  of 
fancy  and  imagination,  of  the  discursive  and  illustrative 
power,  and  of  flow  in  thought  and  style  —  defects  that  may 
have  been  owing  to  some  infelicity  in  the  manner  of  his  edu- 
cation. But,  as  an  extemporaneous  debater,  he  would  have 
commanded  attention  on  the  floor  of  either  House  of  Congress. 
At  the  very  outset  of  the  discussion,  he  seemed  to  have  an 
intuitive  perception  of  the  leading  points,  in  their  natural 
relations  and  order,  and  to  be  at  once  prepared  for  a  logical, 
instructive,  convincing  argument.  This  always  gave  him  in- 
28 


218  THE   BOARD. 

fluence   in   deliberative   bodies,   where   his   tact  and  ability 
seemed  never  to  be  at  fault. 

His  mental  powers  came  early  to  maturity  ;  and  comparing 
his  labors  and  influence  with  those  of  other  men,  he  needed 
not  threescore  years  and  ten  to  stand  with  the  more  favored 
men  in  the  impression  made  upon  his  age.  Yet  his  early  death 
has  ever  seemed  among  the  greater  mysteries  of  God's  holy 
providence. 

WILLIAM  JESSUP  ARMSTRONG,  D.  D. 

The  biographical  sketch  of  Dr.  Armstrong,  which  appeared 
in  the  Missionary  Herald  soon  after  his  decease,  was  prepared 
by  Mr.  Greene,  one  of  his  associates  in  the  correspondence  of v 
the  Board.  It  is  necessary  very  much  to  abridge  this  account, 
in  order  to  find  it  place  in  this  volume. 

Dr.  Armstrong  was  born  at  Mendham,  N.  J.,  October  29, 
1796.  He  became  hopefully  pious  while  a  member  of  the 
college  at  Princeton,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1816.  After 
a  course  of  theological  studies,  under  the  direction  of  his  father 
and  in  the  Seminary  at  Princeton,  he  devoted  two  years  to 
a  home  mission  in  Albernarle  County,  Va.,  laboring  princi- 
pally in  Charlottesville  and  its  vicinity,  near  the  residence  of 
President  Jefferson.  Infidelity  and  irreligion  greatly  pre- 
vailed at  that  time.  No  church  had  been  organized  there, 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  had  never  been  administered.  With 
the  young  missionary's  ardor  and  singleness  of  aim,  and  with 
the  peculiar  pathos  of  his  eloquence,  he  could  not  but  com- 
mand attention.  Success  attended  his  labors.  A  number  of 
interesting  conversions  occurred  even  among  infidels.  A 
Presbyterian  church  was  gathered,  which  still  exists,  and  the 
face  of  society  was  much  changed  for  the  better.  He  after- 
ward labored  three  years  as  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Trenton,  N.  J.  In  the  spring  of  1824,  he  succeed- 
ed Dr.  John  H.  Rice  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Rich- 
mond, Ya.,  where  he  remained  ten  years,  his  Christian  influ- 
ence all  the  while  extending  through  the  State. 


THE  DECEASED  SECRETARIES.  219 

Dr.  Armstrong  had  a  large  share  of  public  spirit.  He 
prayed  much  for  the  success  of  missions  ;  uniformly  prepared 
for  the  monthly  concert  of  prayer  ;  was  an  example  of  liber- 
ality in  his  contributions ;  endeavored  to  awaken  and  foster  a 
missionary  spirit  among  his  people ;  and  had  the  satisfaction 
of  seeing  a  number  of  his  spiritual  children  go  on  missions  to 
the  heathen.  He  was  repeatedly  invited  to  engage  in  agen- 
cies for  promoting  a  missionary  spirit  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try. But  the  time  when  his  soul  seemed  peculiarly  moved  for 
the  heathen,  and  he  was,  as  it  were,  newly  baptized  with  the 
missionary  spirit,  was  at  a  union  meeting  for  prayer  for  the 
conversion  of  the  world,  held  on  the  first  Monday  in  January, 
1838.  Standing  among  the  ministers,  and  before  the  assem- 
bled churches  of  Richmond,  with  a  countenance  glowing  with 
love,  he  said,  "  My  brethren,  I  am  ashamed  that  there  are  so 
many  of  us  here  in  this  Christian  land.  We  must  go  to  the 
heathen."  "  That  day  of  prayer,"  says  one  who  was  present, 
"  made  an  impression  on  many  hearts  which  was  deep  and 
lasting."  This  was  doubtless  the  way  in  which  God  was  pre- 
paring him  to  perform  the  labors  to  which  he  was  soon  to  be 
called  in  connection  with  the  foreign  missionary  work.  When 
the  Central  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  embracing  the  Presby- 
terian friends  of  missions  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  was 
formed  in  1834,  to  act  through  the  American  Board,  Mr. 
Armstrong  was  elected  its  Secretary.  This  involved  the  dis- 
solving of  his  pastoral  relations,  which  was  a  sacrifice  he 
made  at  much  expense  of  feeling. 

Dr.  Wisner  attended  the  first  meeting  of  this  Society,  going 
by  invitation  ;  and  Mr.  Armstrong  was  soon  after  appointed 
General  Agent  of  the  American  Board  for  the  States  of  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina.  The  contributions  within  the 
sphere  of  his  agency,  in  fourteen  months  after  he  commenced 
his  work,  were  about  ten  thousand  dollars.  This  was  before 
the  division  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  formation  of 
the  General  Assembly's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  On  the 
death  of  Dr.  Wisner,  in  1835,  Dr.  Armstrong  was  elected  .a 
Secretary  of  the  Board  for  the  home  correspondence.  In  this 


220  THE   BOAED. 

office  he  remained  till  November  27,  1846  ;  when,  on  his 
way  from  Boston  to  New  York,  in  the  steamer  Atlantic  from 
Norwich,  in  a  furious  tempest,  the  vessel  was  dashed  in  pieces 
upon  the  shore,  and  among  the  lifeless  bodies  found  on  the 
beach  was  that  of  this  excellent  servant  of  God.  His  watch 
had  stopped  soon  after  four  o'clock,  and  it  was  probably  at 
that  time,  on  Friday  morning,  he  entered  the  haven  of  rest. 
Survivors  relate  that  he  was  conspicuous  among  the  passengers 
throughout  the  day  and  evening  of  Thursday,  as  a  minister  of 
Christ,  addressing  to  his  companions  in  danger  appropriate 
religious  instruction  and  consolation,  and  commending  them 
to  God  in  prayer.  kSome  of  the  passengers,  seeing  the  dread 
crisis  rapidly  approaching,  drew  near  and  stood  by  his  side, 
"  because,"  as  one  remarked,  "  it  seemed  safer  to  be  near  so 
good  a  man."  Just  before  the  wreck  broke  upon  the  reef,  and 
the  falling  deck  and  the  overwhelming  waves  swept  him  life- 
less into  the  sea,  he  said  to  one,  "  I  hope  we  may  be  allowed, 
if  God  will,  to  reach  the  shore  with  our  lives ;  but  if  not,  I 
have  perfect  confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  Him 
who  doeth  all  things  well."  This  was  his  dying  testimony  to 
the  goodness  of  God  and  his  own  faith  in  him.  The  vital 
spark  was  probably  extinguished  instantly  by  the  falling  tim- 
bers. The  same  expression  of  calm  confidence  in  God 
remained  enstamped  on  his  features  in  death,  significant  of 
that  heavenly  peace  with  which  he  closed  life  here,  and  entered 
on  that  life  where  are  no  perils,  anxiety,  suffering,  or  death. 
His  remains  were  forwarded  to  New  York,  where  was  his 
bereaved  family,  and  where  the  funeral  solemnities  were 
attended  in  Dr.  William  Adams's  church,  November  30,  a 
vast  assembly  testifying  how  greatly  he  was  beloved. 

Dr.  Armstrong  excelled  in  the  pulpit,  and  his  labors  as  a 
preacher,  during  the  twelve  years  he  was  connected  with  the 
Board,  were  incessant,  and  every  where  acceptable.  He  was 
truly  a  faithful  Christian  brother,  sympathizing  with  his  asso- 
ciates in  all  their  perplexities  and  trials  ;  endeavoring  to  alle- 
v,iate  their  burdens  ;  bearing  with  them,  counseling  them, 
and  praying  for  them ;  never  tenacious  of  his  rights,  and 


THE  DECEASED  SECRETARIES.  221  - 

always  scrupulously  careful  not  to  wound  their  feelings.  A 
plesanter  man  to  cooperate  with  they  could  not  desire.  His 
wisdom  did  not  arise  from  uncommon  grasp  of  mind  or  saga- 
city; but  its  elements  were  goodness  of  heart,  honesty  and 
singleness  of  purpose,  and  trust  in  God.  His  love  of  what 
was  right  and  Christian,  his  guilelessness  and  frankness, 
led  him,  as  it  were,  instinctively,  and  almost  intuitively,  to 
discern  and  aim  at  the  best  results,  and  to  pursue  them  by 
means  and  in  a  manner  which  could  hardly  fail  to  conciliate 
and  secure  approbation.  This,  with  his  promptness  and  assi- 
duity, enabled  him  to  accomplish  his  objects  more  surely  and 
effectually  than  most  other  men.* 

*  A  volume  was  published  in  1853,  entitled  Memoir  and  Sermons  of  Rev. 
William  J.  Armstrong,  D.  D.,  late  Secretary  of  the  American  Board  of  Com- 
missioners for  Foreign  Missions.  Edited  by  Rev.  Hollis  Read.  12  mo.  pp.  411. 


THE    MISSIONS. 


THE    MISSIONS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THEIR  CONSTITUTION  AND   ORIGIN. 

What  constitutes  a  Mission.  —  Stations  and  Outstations. —  Natives  not  Members  of  Mis- 
sions.—  Relations  of  Missionaries  to  the  Native  Churches.  —  Territorial  Extent  of 
Missions.  —  The  Missions  conformed  to  the  Habits  of  the  American  People.  —  Their 
Responsibility. —  Origin  of  the  Missions.  —  Missions  in  India.  —  Religious  Destitution 
of  India.  —  Missions  to  Western  Asia.  —  Instructions  to  the  first  Missionaries.  — 
Growth  of  the  Enterprise. 

THE  by-laws  of^tlie  Board  declare,  that  "  a  majority  of 
missionaries  and  {resistant  missionaries  in  any  mission  shall, 
in  their  regular  meetings,  decide  all  questions  that  may  arise 
in  regard  to  their  proceedings  and  conduct,  in  which  the  mis- 
sion is  interested ;  the  decision  being  subject  to  the  revision 
of  the  Prudential  Committee.  At  such  meetings,  every  male 
missionary  and  assistant  missionary  present,  having  arrived  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  is  entitled  to  a  vote."  The  mis- 
sions are  designed,  therefore,  to  be  self-governing  communities ; 
and  there  is  of  course  a  necessity  for  their  assembling  for  busi- 
ness. The  meeting  may  be  of  the  whole  body,  or  of  delegates 
from  the  stations.  A  station  is  a  local  establishment,  occupied 
by  one  or  more  missionaries.  An  outstation  is  occupied  by  a 
native  helper,  who  may  be  a  preacher,  or  only  a  catechist.  A 
catechist  is  a  native  evangelist  not  formally  licensed.  No  na- 
tive helper  has  a  vote  in  the  missions.  He  is  employed,  paid, 

29  (225) 


226  THE  MISSIONS. 

supported  by  the  mission,  and  accountable  directly  and  only 
to  the  mission.  The  mission  and  the  native  Christian  commu- 
nity are  kept  organically  distinct,  that  the  work  of  the  mission 
may  be  completed  in  the  shortest  possible  time.  The  Board 
sends  forth  and  sustains  missionaries,  evangelists,  as  founders 
of  the  gospel  institutions.  The  most  important  of  these  insti- 
tutions is  the  native  church,  with  its  pastor  and  office-bearers  ; 
and  its  value  is  enhanced  by  its  being  homogeneous  with  the 
people.  Its  ministry  is  expected  to  be  of  the  people  as  soon 
as  may  be,  in  race,  social  condition,  sympathies,  and  style  of 
living.  The  better  educated  native  helpers,  on  becoming 
preachers  and  pastors,  have  sometimes  aspired  to  the  rank,  if 
not  to  the  salary,  of  missionaries.  But  it  has  been  deemed 
vital  to  success,  in  rearing  a  self-governing,  self-supporting  na- 
tive community  of  Christians,  not  to  separate  the  preachers 
and  pastors  from  their  own  people,  as  would  be  done  by  ad- 
mitting them  to  membership  in  the  foreign  missionary  body. 
Their  direct  relations  never  extend  to  the  Board.  Readers, 
catechists,  preachers,  pastors,  they  may  be,  but  not  in  a  tech- 
nical sense  missionaries  to  their  own  people.  Missionaries 
are  on  the  ground  only  for  a  time.  Hence  they  are  dis- 
suaded from  becoming  permanent  pastors  of  native  churches, 
lest  those  churches  should  never  feel  able  to  stand  alone. 
For  the  same  general  reasons,  it  has  been  deemed  undesir- 
able that  missionaries  should  become  members  of  native  eccle- 
siastical bodies. 

Regard  for  convenience  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  terri- 
torial extent  of  missions.  Three  missions  are  now  on  the 
ground  once  occupied  by  the  Armenian  mission,  called  the 
Western,  Eastern,  and  Central  Missions  to  Turkey.  The  three 
Mahratta  missions,  owing  in  part  to  increased  traveling  facili- 
ties, have  been  combined  in  one.  The  missionaries  in  China 
are  divided  into  three  missions,  because  of  the  difficulty  of 
meeting  for  business.  For  the  same  reason  there  are  three 
missions  among  the  Tamil  people  of  Southern  India  and  Ceylon. 

The  missions  derive  their  organization  from  the  taste  and 
habits  of  the  American  people ;  and  persons  of  foreign  birth 


ORIGIN   OF  THE  MISSIONS.  227 

and  education  have  found  it  somewhat  difficult  to  work  happi- 
ly and  well  in  them.  The  missions  are  held  to  be  responsible 
for  the  proceedings  of  the  several  stations  and  members,  but 
can  not  set  aside  instructions  received  from  the  Prudential 
Committee.  These  must  accord,  however,  with  the  laws  and 
regulations  of  the  Board,  and  the  doings  of  the  Committee  are 
subject  to  revision  by  the  Board.  The  several  missionaries 
have  the  right  of  appeal  from  the  missions  to  the  Prudential 
Committee ;  and  both  the  missionaries  and  the  missions  may 
appeal  from  the  Committee  to  the  Board.  This  right  has  sel- 
dom been  exercised  by  individual  missionaries,  and  never  yet 
by  a  mission. 

ORIGIN  OP  THE  MISSIONS. 

The  first  mission  of  the  Board,  as  is  well  known,  was  that 
to  the  Mahrattas  of  Western  India.  The  first  station  was  at 
Bombay.  Here  Hall  and  Newell  lived  and  died.  It  is  notice- 
able that  neither  of  the  fields  now  occupied  by  the  Board  in 
India  seems  to  have  been  contemplated  by  the  Prudential 
Committee,  when  they  sent  forth  the  first  missionaries.  Bir- 
mah,  the  only  country  named  in  their  Instructions,  was  reserved 
by  Providence  for  our  Baptist  brethren.  The  three  missiona- 
ries who  retained  their  connection  with  the  Board,  driven 
westward  by  the  persecutions  of  the  East  India  government, 
obtained  a  footing  in  Bombay.  At  that  time,  from  Cape  Co- 
morin  through  the  whole  western  coast  of  India  to  Bussora, 
Mocha,  Mozambique,  Madagascar,  Mauritius,  and  on  to  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  there  was  not  one  Protestant  missionary. 
Gordon  Hall,  in  an  appeal  to  the  churches  of  his  native  land, 
in  February,  1826,  just  before  his  lamented  decease,  takes  this 
affecting  view  of  the  moral  desolations  of  the  world  at  that 
time :  — 

"  From  Bombay  we  look  down  the  coast  for  seventy  miles, 
and  we  see  two  missionaries ;  and  fourteen  miles  further  on, 
we  see  two  more.  Looking  in  a  more  easterly  direction,  at 
the  distance  of  about  three  hundred  miles,  we  see  one  mis- 
sionary, chiefly  occupied,  however,  as  a  chaplain  among  Euro- 


228  THE  MISSIONS. 

peans.  In  an  eastern  direction,  the  nearest  missionary  is  about 
one  thousand  miles  from  us.  Looking  a  little  to  the  north  of 
east,  at  the  distance  of  thirteen  hundred  miles,  we  see  ten  or 
twelve  missionaries  in  little  more  than  as  many  miles  in  length 
on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges.  Turning  thence  northward,  at 
nearly  the  same  distance  from  us,  we  see  three,  four,  or  five 
more,  separated  from  each  other  by  almost  as  many  hundred 
intervening  miles.  And  looking  onward  beyond  these  distant 
posts,  in  a  north-east  direction,  through  the  Chinese  empire 
and  Tartary,  to  Karnschatka,  and  thence  down  the  north-west- 
ern coast  of  America  to  the  River  Columbia,  and  thence  across 
the  mountains  to  the  Missouri,  the  first  missionaries  we  see, 
in  that  direction,  are  brethren  Vaill  and  Chapman  among  the 
Osages. 

"  Again  we  look  north,  and  at  a  distance  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty  miles,  we  see  two  missionaries ;  but  from  thence, 
with  two  or  three  doubtful  exceptions,  through  all  the  north 
of  Asia  to  the  pole,  not  a  single  missionary  is  to  be  seen.  In 
a  north-western  direction,  it  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  now 
one  missionary  between  us  and  St.  Petersburg.  Westerly, 
the  nearest  is  at  Jerusalem  or  Beirut.  South-west,  the  nearest 
is  at  Sierra  Leone ;  and  more  to  the  south,  the  nearest  may  be 
among  the  Hottentots,  or  on  Madagascar."  * 

The  only  Mahratta  station  which  the  Board  now  has  on  or 
near  the  coast,  is  in  Bombay,  a  city  containing  half  a  million 
of  inhabitants.  Stations  were  formerly  occupied  at  Mahim 
and  Tannah,  on  the  adjacent  continent,  but  only  for  a  short 
time.  In  the  Deccan,  or  great  upland  east  of  llt,e  Ghauts,  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  clusters  of  missionary  stations  to 
be  found  in  India,  with  Ahmednuggur  for  its  center. 

The  missions  to  the  Tamil  people,  in  Northern  Ceylon  and 
Southern  India,  grew  out  of  Mr.  Newell's  wanderings,  subse- 
quent to  his  visit  to  Mauritius  with  his  admirable  wife.  Com- 
ing to  Ceylon,  which  was  under  the  English  government  and 
not  the  East  India  Company,  and  finding  the  governor  favora- 

*  Missionary  Herald  for  1826,  p.  313. 


ORIGIN   OP  THE  MISSIONS.  229 

ble  to  a  mission,  he  recommended  sending  one  to  the  District 
of  Jaffna,  where  the  Tamil  language  was  spoken.  It  was  thus 
the  Board  was  led  to  commence  its  Ceylon  mission,  in  the  year 
1816,  —  Messrs.  Richards,  Poor,  Meigs,  and  Warren  being  the 
first  missionaries.  Out  of  this  grew  the  missions  to  Madura, 
Madras,  and  Arcot. 

* 

The  first  movement  of  God's  people  in  this  country  for  the 
spiritual  renovation  of  the  countries  of  Western  Asia,  was 
directed  toward  Jerusalem,  and  primarily  to  the  Jews  of  Pal- 
estine. The  best  exposition  of  the  views  and  feelings  with 
which  this  enterprise  was  commenced,  is  in  the  Instructions 
already  mentioned,  delivered  by  Dr.  Worcester  to  Messrs.  Par- 
sons and  Fisk,  in  the  Old  South  Church,  Boston,  October  31, 
1819.  It  falls  in  with  the  object  of  this  volume  to  make  copi- 
ous extracts  from  these  Instructions.  They  were  printed  at 
the  time,  but  have  long  been  inaccessible  to  the  public.  To 
the  first  of  the  American  missionaries  to  Western  Asia  the 
Prudential  Committee  spoke  as  follows :  — 

Your  mission  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  part  of  an  extended 
and  continually  extending  system  of  benevolent  action  for  the 
recovery  of  the  world  to  God,  to  virtue,  and  to  happiness.  In 
the  prosecution  of  it,  respect  is  to  be  had,  not  merely  to  what 
may  be  effected  by  your  own  efforts  directly,  but  also  to  the 
lights  and  facilities,  the  aids  and  inducements,  which  you  may 
afford  to  the  efforts  of  others,  either  acting  cotemporaneously 
with  you,  or  successively  to  come  after  you.  Facts  are  lights ; 
clear  inducements  are  lights ;  fair  results  of  experiments  are 
lights ;  correct  notices  of  evils  and  of  remedies  are  lights. 
To  lay  open  to  the  view  of  Christians  the  state  of  the  world, 
or  of  any  portion  of  it,  and  to  point  out  ways  and  means  of 
melioration,  is  to  do  much  toward  the  accomplishment  of  what 
is  possible. 

Yours  is  a  field  of  no  ordinary  description.  It  comprises, 
either  within  itself  or  by  intimate  association,  all  that  is  most 
affecting  to  Christian  feeling,  or  most  interesting  to  Christian 


230  THE  MISSIONS. 

hope.  There  patriarchs,  and  prophets,  and  apostles,  and  mar- 
tyrs,—  and  He  who  is  their  Lord  and  ours,  —  lived,  and 
labored,  and  died.  There  the  revelations  of  heavenly  mercy 
were  given,  the  sacrifice  for  the  world's  redemption  was 
offered,  and  the  commandment  of  the  everlasting  God,  that 
the  gospel  should  be  made  known  unto  all  nations  for  the 
obedience  of  faith,  was  delivered ;  and  there  the  first  churches 
of  the  exalted  Redeemer,  which  once  shone  with  his  glory  in 
all  its  brightness  resting  upon  them,  now  lie  in  ruins.  The 
candlesticks  have  long  since  been  removed,  —  the  light  has 
been,  for  dismal  centuries,  almost  totally  extinguished,  and 
the  powers  of  darkness  have  triumphed  and  trodden  down 
and  led  captive  at  their  pleasure.  "  But  the  Lord  will  arise 
and  have  mercy  upon  Zion  ;  for  the  time  to  favor  her,  yea,  the 
set  time,  is  come.  For  his  servants  take  pleasure  in  her 
stones,  and  favor  the  dust  thereof."  Her  old  waste  .places  are 
to  be  builded,  and  the  foundations  of  many  generations  to  be 
raised  up. 

That  the  hearts  of  all  Christians  may  be  engaged  in  this 
mighty  work,  that  the  exertions  for  its  accomplishment  may 
be  wisely  directed,  and  the  proper  means  in  the  best  manner 
applied,  the  scene  must  be  laid  open  in  as  clear  a  light  as  pos- 
sible, and  every  thing  comprised  in  it  must  be  examined  with 
care.  The  doing  of  what  you  can  for  this  purpose  will  con- 
stitute no  small  share  of  the  business,  the  interest,  and  the 
utility  of  your  mission.  For  a  lucid  illustration  of  what  we 
here  mean  we  refer  you  to  the  Christian  Researches  of  Dr. 
Buchanan,  who  desired  to  see  the  things  which  you  are  sent 
forth  to  see,  and  into  whose  design,  with  a  like  activity  of 
benevolence  and  diligence  of  inquiry,  it  may  be  your  privilege 
to  enter. 

From  the  hights  of  the  Holy  Land  —  from  Calvary,  from 
Olivet,  and  from  Zion  —  you  will  take  an  extended  view  of 
the  wide-spread  desolations  and  variegated  scenes  presenting 
themselves  on  every  side  to  every  Christian  sensibility,  and 
will  survey  with  earnest  attention  the  various  tribes  and  classes 
of  fellow-beings  who  dwell  in  that  laud,  and  in  the  surround- 
ing countries. 


ORIGIN   OP  THE  MISSIONS.  231 

At  Jerusalem  and  in  Judea  you  will  find  people  of  many 
nations, — Jews,  Arabs,  Turks,  Asiatics,  and  Europeans, — 
of  different  and  distant  countries,  and  of  various  religions  — 
Judaism,  Paganism,  Mohammedanism,  and  Christianity.  The 
professed  Christians  are  not  only  of  different  nations,  but  of 
various  communions  and  names  —  Romanists,  Grecianists, 
Armenians,  Nestorians,  Jacobites,  and  Protestants.  With  this 
mingled  people,  in  all  its  varieties,  you  will  endeavor,  by 
attentive  observation  and  diligent  inquiries,  to  make  your- 
selves as  thoroughly  acquainted  as  possible  in  regard  to  their 
general  state,  their  religious  opinions  and  rites,  their  moral 
and  civil  habits  and  manners,  their  means  of  improvement  — 
in  a  word,  the  circumstances  favorable  and  unfavorable  to  the 
propagation  of  the  gospel,  in  its  purity,  and  with  its  blessings, 
among  them. 

The  two  grand  inquiries  ever  present  to  your  minds  will  be, 
What  good  can  be  done  ?  and,  By  what  means  ?  What  can 
be  done  for  the  Jews  ?  What  for  the  Pagans  ?  What  for  the 
Mohammedans  ?  What  for  the  Christians  ?  What  for  the 
people  in  Palestine  ?  What  for  those  in  Egypt  ?  In  Syria  ? 
In  Persia  ?  In  Armenia  ?  In  other  countries  to  which  your 
inquiries  may  be  extended  ? 

The  fruits  of  your  researches,  consisting  of  facts,  descrip- 
tions, notices,  reflections,  comparative  views,  and  suggestions 
of  methods  and  means  of  usefulness,  you  will  regularly  enter 
in  your  journals,  and  transmit  to  us  as  opportunities  are 
afforded.  Possibly  also  you  may  be  able  to  send  home  some 
books  or  ancient  manuscripts,  interesting  to  the  student  in  the 
Scriptures,  in  ecclesiastical  history,  or  in  general  literature,  or 
at  least  gratifying  to  a  laudable  veneration  for  antiquity,  or  to 
a  reasonable  curiosity. 

This  business,  however,  of  procuring  and  communicating 
information,  interesting  and  important  as  it  will  be,  is  not  all 
that  you  are  to  attempt.  You  go  to  that  land,  still  of  promise, 
as  Christian  missionaries  —  as  ministers  of  Christ  commis- 
sioned to  testify  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  to  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  —  to  people  of  every  nation,  and  name,  and  con- 


232  THE  MISSIONS. 

dition.  This  character  you  are  sacredly  to  maintain  in  every 
place,  and  this  commission  you  are  faithfully  to  execute  as  you 
have  opportunity. 

The  abettors  of  those  different  religions,  and  the  adherents 
to  the  different  sects,  regard  each  other  with  mutual  jealousy ; 
and  you  will  not  think  it  strange  if  they  all  regard  you  with 
something  more  than  suspicion.  You  will  take  all  prudent 
care  that  you  do  nothing  rashly,  nothing  inconsiderately  or 
unadvisedly ;  that  you  do  not  inadvertently  or  needlessly 
expose  yourselves  to  resentments,  rapacities,  stratagems,  or 
acts  of  violence  ;  startle  prejudices,  excite  suspicions,  or  offend 
against  laws,  or  customs,  or  ceremonies,  or  opinions  ;  and  that, 
by  avoiding  all  appearance  of  earthly  wealth  or  distinction, 
by  Christian  courtesy  and  kindness,  and  meekness  and  gen- 
tleness, and  by  all  fair  and  lawful  means,  you  conciliate  civil- 
ity, confidence,  favor,  and  respect. 

The  Jews  have  been  for  ages  an  awful  sign  to  the  world. 
But  the  period  of  their  tremendous  dereliction  and  of  the 
severity  of  God  is  drawing  to  a  close.  You  are  to  lift  up  an 
ensign  to  them,  that  they  may  "  return  and  seek  the  Lord  their 
God,  and  David  their  king."  They  will  return.  The  word 
of  promise  is  sure,  and  the  accomplishment  of  it  will  be  as  life 
from  the  dead  to  the  Gentile  world.  The  day  is  at  hand. 
The  signal  movements  of  the  age  indicate  its  dawn.  It  may 
be  your  privilege  to  prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord.  It  may  be 
your  felicity  to  see  some  of  the  long-lost  children  of  Abraham 
returning  with  dissolved  hearts,  and  confessing,  with  unutter- 
able emotions,  that  the  same  Jesus  whom  on  that  awful  spot 
their  fathers  crucified,  is  indeed  the  Messiah,  the  Hope  of  their 
nation,  and  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  may  be  your 
distinguished  honor  to  be  leadingly  instrumental  in  "  building 
again  the  tabernacle  of  David,  which  is  fallen  down,  and  the 
ruins  thereof,  and  in  setting  it  up,  that  the  residue  of  men 
may  seek  after  the  Lord,  and  all  the  Gentiles  upon  whom  his 
name  is  called."  It  will  be  our  unceasing  prayer,  and  the 
unceasing  prayer  of  many,  that  your  mission  may  be  crowned 
with  all  this  joy  and  all  this  glory. 


ORIGIN   OF  THE  MISSIONS.  233 

Since  the  Instructions  were  delivered,  from  which  the  fore- 
going extracts  are  made,  a  little  one  has  become  a  thousand, 
a  small  one  a  strong  nation.  From  that  mission  to  Jerusalem, 
which  it  was  not  found  expedient  to  continue  long,  arose  the 
missions  to  Syria,  to  Greece,  to  the  Jews  of  European  Turkey, 
to  Assyria,  to  the  Nestorians,  and  to  Western,  Eastern,  and 
Central  Turkey,  all  of  which,  excepting  those  to  the  Greeks 
and  the  Jews,  are  now  in  operation. 

The  mission  to  the  Nestorians  resulted  from  the  explorations 
of  Messrs.  Smith  and  Dwight.  While  employed  in  drawing 
up  Instructions  for  these  brethren,  the  eye  of  the  writer  cas- 
ually fell  upon  the  mention  of  a  people  in  North-western  Per- 
sia called  "  Chaldeans,"  by  Dr.  Walsh,  chaplain  of  the  English 
embassy  at  Constantinople ;  and  this  occasioned  the  visit  to 
Oroomiah,  and  the  interesting  revelations  concerning  the 
Nestorian  people,  which  led  the  Board  to  institute  the  suc- 
cessful and  prosperous  mission  among  them.  Thus  are  events 
of  the  most  unequal  magnitudes  often  providentially  con- 
nected together  as  cause  and  effect. 
30 


CHAPTER    II. 

ORIGIN 'OF  THE  MISSIONS,   CONTINUED. 

Missions  to  the  Islands  of  the  Pacific.  —  Missions  to  Africa.  —  Missions  to  China.  — 
Missions  to  the  North  American  Indians. 

MESSRS.  BINGHAM,  Thurston,  and  others  composing  the  first 
mission  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  received  their  Instructions  in 
Park-street  Church,  Boston,  from  Dr.  "Worcester,  October  15, 
1819.  Only  that  part  of  this  official  document  will  be  copied, 
which  illustrates  the  nature  of  the  compact  of  the  members 
of  the  mission  with  each  other,  and  with  the  Prudential 
Committee. 

The  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  a  kingdom  of  order. 
Missions  for  the  advancement  of  this  kingdom  are  to  be  main- 
tained by  a  regular,  though  simple  and  free  polity.  The 
free-will  offerings  of  many  churches  and  many  thousands  of 
individuals  are  cast  into  one  treasury,  and  committed,  for 
application  to  the  intended  objects,  to  persons  duly  appointed 
to  the  high  trust.  Upon  these  sacred  funds,  and  under  this 
constituted  direction,  approved  persons,  freely  offering  them- 
selves for  the  holy  service,  are  sent  forth  to  evangelize  the 
heathen.  The  compact,  explicit  or  implied,  engages  to  them 
affectionate  and  provident  patronage,  maintenance,  and  aid, 
so  long,  and  only  so  long,  as  they  conform  themselves  to  the 
instructions  and  regulations  of  the  service.  Contempt  or 
disregard  of  the  instructions  and  regulations  would  tend  to 
confusion  and  every  evil  work.  The  humble  and  devoted 
missionary,  therefore,  will  consider  a  due  observance  of  the 
directions  of  those  who  are  intrusted  with  the  weighty  con- 
cerns of  the  mission,  as  a  point  of  sacred  duty,  on  which  much 

(234) 


ORIGIN   OF  THE  MISSIONS.  235 

is  depending.  If  in  his  judgment  the  service  might  be  ben- 
efited by  an  alteration  or  modification  of  any  part  of  the  sys- 
tem, or  any  special  order,  he  may  reasonably  confide  that  his 
representations,  made  in  a  proper  manner,  will  receive  kind 
and  considerate  attention ;  for,  of  all  men  in  public  trust,  the 
managers  of  missionary  concerns  have  evidently  the  least 
inducement  to  treat  those  who  act  under  their  direction  with 
unkindness  or  neglect,  and  the  strongest  motives  to  render 
them  every  facility,  encouragement  and  aid  in  the  faithful 
prosecution  of  their  work. 

Like  the  members  of  other  missions,  you  will  find  it  con- 
venient and  necessary  to  form  yourselves  into  a  body  politic, 
having  rules  and  regulations  of  your  own,  but  conformable, 
or  not  repugnant,  to  the  directions  of  the  Board,  or  Pruden- 
tial Committee,  for  the  orderly  management  of  your  joint 
concerns ;  for  the  due  distribution  of  your  means  of  support, 
your  trusts,  and  your  labors ;  for  the  keeping  of  regular 
records  and  journals ;.  for  your  correspondence  with  the  Sec- 
retary and  accounts  with  the  Treasurer  of  the  Board ;  and 
for  various  purposes,  important  to  the  welfare  and  success 
of  the  mission. 

The  Micronesian  mission,  commenced  in  1852,  was  an  off- 
shoot of  this  mission,  and  is  composed  in  part  of  natives  of 
the  Sandwich  Islands. 

The  first  missionary  of  the  Board  to  the  African  continent 
was  the  Eev.  John  Leighton  Wilson,  who  spent  twenty  years 
on  the  western  coast,  near  the  equator,  first  at  Cape  Palrnas, 
and  then  on  the  Gaboon  River.  The  Instructions  of  the  Pru- 
dential Committee  to  Mr.  Wilson  were  delivered  in  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia,  September  22,  1833,  by 
Mr.  Anderson,  Secretary  for  the  Foreign  Correspondence. 
The  reader  may  be  interested  to  observe  with  what  animating 
hopes  the  first  mission  to  these  dark  countries  was  commenced. 

Eight  years  ago,  the  Board,  by  a  formal  resolution,  enjoined 


236  THE  MISSIONS. 

it  upon  the  Prudential  Committee  to  embrace  the  earliest 
opportunity  for  establishing  a  mission  in  Africa.  Nor  have 
the  Committee  been  unmindful  of  this  injunction,  but  have 
attentively  observed  the  indications  of  Providence  unto  this 
day,  not  only  in  reference  to  Western  Africa,  but  also  to  the 
northern  and  eastern  shores  of  that  continent.  In  the  year 
1829,  a  missionary  of  the  Board  made  a  visit  of  inquiry  to  two 
of  the  principal  cities  on  the  northern  shore.  But  on  the 
eastern,  until  within  a  few  months  past,  no  cloudy  pillar  was 
seen  to  invite  our  labors.  Through  the  space  of  forty  degrees 
of  latitude,  from  the  port  of  Natal  to  the  Strait  of  Babelman- 
del,  it  seems  quite  impracticable  for  the  Board  to  establish  and 
sustain  a  mission,  fAt  length,  after  the  Committee  had  direct- 
ed one  of  their  Secretaries  to  address  a  letter  of  inquiry  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Philip,  of  South  Africa,  light  gleamed  unexpectedly 
from  the  south-eastern  shore,  and  laid  open  to  our  view  a  prom- 
ising and  accessible  field ;  and  now  we  wait  for  nothing  but 
suitable  men  for  the  service  to  commence  a  series  of  stations 
on  the  eastern,  as  well  as  the  western  coasts  of  Africa.  And 
from  De  la  Goa  Bay  we  may  hope  to  advance  northward  upon 
Mozambique,  and  perhaps  ascend  into  the  interior. 

But  it  has  been  toward  Western  Africa  that  the  Committee 
have  looked  with  the  most  intense  desire  to  labor  for  the  spir- 
itual good  of  that  benighted  continent.  Soon  after  the  reso- 
lution just  referred  to  was  passed  by  the  Board,  which  had 
special  reference  to  Western  Africa,  a  colored  Presbyterian  cler- 
gyman, in  one  of  our  Western  States,  was  appointed  a  mission- 
ary of  the  Board  to  the  native  tribes  within  the  colony  of  Li- 
beria. He  has  since  died  in  that  colony ;  but,  for  reasons 
which  it  is  not  important  to  relate,  did  not  go  thither  as  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  Board. 

Since  that  time,  until  your  disposition  to  consecrate  yourself 
to  the  liberation  of  Africa  from  her  thralldom  of  ignorance  and 
sin  became  known  to  the  Committee,  no  man  offered  his  ser- 
vices to  the  Board,  whose  constitution  and  habits  were  thought 
to  be  adapted  to  the  climate.  But  now  the  time  appears  to 
have  come  for  us  to  enter  the  arena  of  that  spiritual  conflict, 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  MISSIONS.  237 

which  is  to  extend  itself  with  invincible  power,  until  Africa 
shall  rejoice  under  the  peaceful  reign  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Committee  will  now  briefly  advert  to  the  probable  course 
of  the  mission  in  future  years. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  churches  of  this  country 
owe  to  Africa  a  debt  which  nothing  except  the  gospel  of  the 
grace  of  God  can  ever  cancel.  This  evening  we  acknowledge 
that  debt  to  the  full  extent,  and  promise  to  cooperate  with  our 
brethren  of  other  kindred  associations  in  paying  it.  Though 
it  be  greater  than  the  debt  which  England  owes,  it  must  be 
paid  —  not  with  silver  and  gold,  but  with  the  gospel.  Through 
all  her  vast  extent,  Africa  must  hear  the  glad  tidings  —  her 

"  mountain  tops 
From  distant  mountains  catch  the  flying  joy  "  — 

and  all  her  plains  and  valleys  become  vocal  with  the  high 
praises  of  God. 

Within  twenty  years,  the  coasts  around  the  Gulf  of  Guinea 
will  probably  be  occupied,  to  a  great  extent,  by  colonies  of 
colored  emigrants  from  different  parts  of  this  western  world. 
These  colonies  will  take  the  place  of  the  chain  of  forts  that 
were  reared  long  since  to  protect  that  most  nefarious  com- 
merce by  which  the  coast  of  Guinea  has  been  signalized. 
These  colonies  will  be  important  auxiliaries  to  Christian  mis- 
sions in  Western  Africa.  Without  them,  the  blighting  influ- 
ences of  climate  and  of  the  slave  trade,  combined,  would  wither 
all  the  missions  we  might  plant  upon  the  coast,  and  we  could 
scarcely  proceed  at  all  into  the  interior.  They  will  serve  for 
landing  places,  for  places  of  rest  and  refreshment,  for  defense, 
and  for  posts  of  observation  and  inquiry ;  and  by  the  informa- 
tion they  collect,  the  roads  they  open,  and  their  commercial 
intercourse,  they  will  greatly  facilitate  our  entrance  among  the 
several  tribes  and  nations  of  the  interior. 

An  object  of  primary  importance,  in  respect  to  the  inland 
parts  of  Western  Africa  and  the  central  portions  of  the  con- 
tinent eastward  of  the  Niger,  is  the  exploration  of  the  country 
with  a  view  to  missionary  operations.  None  of  this  vast  region 


238  THE  MISSIONS. 

lias  been  thus  explored,  unless  it  be  some  districts  immediately 
behind  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone.  It  was  the  solution  of 
geographical  problems,  that  governed  the  inquiries  of  most  of 
the  travelers  in  Western  and  Central  Africa.  Now  that  the 
problems  of  chief  interest  have  been  solved,  and  the  Niger  has 
been  traced  to  the  sea,  mere  curiosity  may  subside ;  but  Chris- 
tian benevolence  will  awake,  and  investigate  the  intellectual 
and  moral  condition  of  the  whole  people.  Between  the  coast 
of  Guinea  and  the  Desert  of  Sahara  there  may,  perhaps,  be 
twenty-five  millions  of  souls.  Concerning  most  of  these,  our 
knowledge  is  exceedingly  vague  and  general.  We  can  distin- 
guish, however,  two  races  of  men,  viz. :  the  original  inhabit- 
ants of  the  country,  and  the  descendants  of  Arabs  and  other 
emigrants  from  Asia.  The  latter  are  daily  advancing  south- 
ward, and  carry  with  them  the  religion  of  the  false  prophet. 

The  great  region  now  before  us  is  broken  in  the  center  by  a 
chain  of  mountains  extending  east  and  west.  The  southern 
slope  toward  the  sea  is  occupied  by  several  barbarian  states, 
of  which  Ashantee  and  Dahomey  are  considerably  known  to 
the  civilized  world.  The  great,  fertile,  and  populous  valley 
of  the  Niger  extends  along  the  northern  side  of  these  moun- 
tains, through  twenty  degrees  of  longitude ;  then,  breaking 
the  chain  of  mountains,  it  pours  the  united  floods  of  two  ma- 
jestic rivers  into  the  Gulf  of  Guinea. 

Two  steamboats  are  now  upon  the  Niger,  and  it  is  the  inten- 
tion of  the  company  to  which  they  belong  to  keep  them  there, 
if  it  be  possible.  In  process  of  time  we  may  expect  to  ascend 
that  river,  and,  entering  the  Tshadda,  we  may  advance  to- 
ward the  rising  sun.  Eastward  of  the  Niger,  the  mountains 
ascend  to  a  loftier  hight  than  on  the  west,  and  are  known  as 
the  Mountains  of  the  Moon.  What  sort  of  a  country  and 
what  kind  of  people  we  shall  find  in  our  progress  eastward,  is 
uncertain.  Geographers  suppose  that  the  central  regions  rise 
and  spread  out  into  a  vast  table  land,  extending  from  the 
Mountains  of  the  Moon  southward.  Possibly  this,  like  the 
high  central  regions  of  Asia,  affords  an  extensive  range  to  wan- 
dering hordes;  but  whether  they  be  mild  or  savage,  pagans. 


ORIGIN   OP  THE  MISSIONS.  239 

Mohammedans,  or  nominal  Christians,  is  yet  wholly  unknown. 
Indeed,  it  is  true,  that  almost  the  whole  of  Africa  is  yet 
to  be  explored  by  the  Christian  missionary,  before  missions 
can  be  prosecuted  on  that  benighted  continent  with  intelli- 
gence and  efficiency. 

Having  made  a  successful  beginning  among  the  tribes  of  the 
coast,  around  the  colonies,  we  shall,  as  our  laborers  increase 
and  the  roads  are  opened,  advance  into  the  interior  with  our' 
permanent  establishments.  The  native  races  promise  the 
speediest  results,  and  the  progress  of  the  Mohammedans  must 
be  checked.  From  the  English  fort  on  the  Gold  Coast,  we  may 
enter  the  country  of  the  Ashantees ;  and  when  the  Niger  is 
open,  we  may  ascend  to  the  kingdom  of  Borgoo,  northward 
of  the  Kong  Mountains. 

Wherever  we  go,  schools  must  be  opened  for  educating  school- 
masters, catechists,  pastors,  and  preachers.  The  languages 
must  be  learned  and  reduced  to  writing.  Printing-presses 
must  be  erected,  and  the  natives  taught  to  work  them.  Con- 
stellations of  Christian  churches  must  be  called  into  being,  and 
shine  around  these.  The  preacher  must  revolve  in  his  orbit, 
and  truth  from  the  pure  word  of  God  come  down  upon  the 
people,  like  rain  upon  the  mown  grass,  and  showers  that  water 
the  earth. 

From  these  illuminated  districts  the"  light  will  radiate,  the 
heavenly  influence  will  spread,  and  God  the  Holy  Spirit  will 
bless  the  means  of  his  own  appointing  when  used  in  obedience 
to  his  command. 

Meanwhile,  the  mission  which  we  hope  soon  to  commence 
on  the  south-eastern  coast  may  be  expected  to  extend  its  out- 
posts more  and  more,  and  ascend  the  coast,  and  advance  upon 
the  central  highlands.  Our  European  brethren,  also,  of  dif- 
ferent denominations,  whose  line  of  march  already  extends 
across  the  continent  on  the  south,  will  advance  from  that 
quarter ;  the  English  Episcopal  missions  will  advance  from  the 
Mountains  of  Abyssinia,  and  our  brethren  of  the  same  de- 
nomination at  Sierra  Leone,  and  those  of  various  names  at 
Liberia,  will  move  with  us  from  the  west ;  and  our  children 


THE   HUSSIONS. 

may  hear  of  the  meeting  of  theso  upon  some  central  moun- 
tain, to  celebrate  in  lofty  praise  Africa's  redemption.  0,  what 
a  meeting,  what  a  day !  And  it  will  surely  come  ;  and  Africa, 
all  Africa,  shall  rejoice  in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  maketh 
his  people  free. 

The  mission  to  Southern  Africa  was  the  immediate  result 
of  strong  representations  from  Jiev.  Dr.  Philip,  of  Cape  Town, 
superintendent  of  the  London  Missionary  Society's  mission  in 
that  part  of  the  continent,  along  with  a  desire  for  a  more  health- 
ful African  climate  than  was  to  be  found  in  the  equatorial 
regions.  Two^  missions  were  sent  thither  in  the  year  J1834; 
one  composed  of  brethren  from  the  Southern  States,  destined  to 
.  the  interior ;  the  other  of  brethren  from  the  Northern  States, 
v  whose  field  of  labor  was  to  be  among  the  Zulus  of  the  south- 
eastern coast.  The  interior  mission,  after  traveling  twelve 
hundred  miles  from  Cape  Town,  was  soon  after  broken  up  by 
the  wars  of  the  Dutch  Boers  upon  the  natives,  and  its  mem- 
bers joined  the  Zulu  mission.  This  mission  also  came  near 
being  discontinued,  the  Prudential  Committee  at  one  time 
having  resolved  to  abandon  it ;  but  its  establishment  was  ulti- 
mately effected  through  a  series  of  providences,  clearly  indi- 
cating the  duty  of  retaining  that  field. 

The  attention  of  the  Board  was  drawn_to_Cluiia-l2y  a  well- 
known  Christian  merchant,  the  late  D.  W.  C.  01yphant,Esq., 
then  a  resident  at  Canton.  His  vessels  were  always  open  and 
free  for  missionaries  to  China.  One,  named  the  Morrison,  of 
four  hundred  tons,  —  a  large  vessel  for  those  times,  —  was 
almost  a  missionary  ship.  Her  exploring  voyage  to  Japan  in 
1837,!  with  Mr-jOng,  a  partner,  and  Dr.  Peter  Parker  and  Mr. 

.  Wells  Williams  of  the  mission,  will  entitle  lief  TiTa  place 
in  all  the  histories  of  missions  to  those  remarkable  islands. 
Since  then,  the  operations  of  divine  Providence,  with  the  ap- 
parent design  of  opening  not  only  China  but  also  Japan  to  the 
gospel,  have  been  upon  a  grand  scale.  While  we  are  writing, 
it  is  credibly  reported  that  not  only  the  chief  cities  of  the 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  MISSIONS.  241 

coast,  but  the  great  rivers  of  China,  are  rendered  accessible  to 
the  commerce  of  Christendom,  and  of  course  to  its  Christian- 
ity. The  Board  has  established  missions  at  Canton,  Amoy, 
Fiihchau,  and  Shanghai ;  and  at  last  it  has  a  missionary  resid- 
ing at  Teintsin,  near  the  metropolis  of  the  Chinese  empire. 

The  rise  of  the  missions  among  the  North  American  Indians 
will  be  sufficiently  indicated  when  treating  on  deputations  to 
the  missions,  and  in  the  historical  catalogue  of  missions,  at  the 
close  of  a  subsequent  chapter. 
31 


CHAPTER    III. 

DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE   MISSIONS— THEIR  LAWS  OF 
GROWTH  — THEIR  COMPLETION. 


Object  of  Missions  to  plant  the  Gospel  Institutions.— Apostolical  and   Modern  Mis- 
sions. —  Development  in  Preaching  and  Schools.  —  Missions  necessarily  progressive. 

—  Evidences  of  Progress.  —  Progress  essential  to  their  Prosperity.  —  Consequences 
of  disregarding  this  Law. —  Early  Preeminence  given  to  Preaching.  —  Schools  and 
the  Press —  Subordinate  Agencies  falling  into  their  Places.  —  How  the  Work  may  be 
completed.  —  An  Unsettled  Problem.  —  Difficulties  in  Native  Churches.  —  Similar  Dif- 
ficulties in  the  Apostolic  Churches.  —  Allowance  for  Failings  in  Mission  Churches. — 
Hard  to  reach  the  Self-sustaining  Point. — Necessary  Modifications.  —  A  Fixed  Limit 
to  the  Ability  of  Missionary  Societies. — A  Limit  to  the  Number  of  Missionaries. — 
The  Native  Agency  should  have  Room  for  Growth.  —  Too  much  required  of  Missions. 

—  A  Mission  may  grow,  and  yet  not  increase  its  Cost  to  the  Society.  —  When  the 
Work  of  a  Mission  is  completed. 

ENOUGH  has  been  said  to  illustrate  the  origin  of  the  mis- 
sions, in  their  larger  extent.  It  will  now  be  in  order  to  treat 
of  their  development,  and  laws  of  growth. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MISSIONS. 

Experience  has  shown,  that  the  great  object  of  missions  — 
the  introduction  of  the  gospel  among  the  unevangelized  — 
can  be  effectually  accomplished  only  by  a  course  of  measures 
fitted  to  secure  the  establishment  of  the  gospel  institutions. 
These  the  apostles  introduced  wherever  they  went,  but  with 
far  less  difficulty  than  we  experience.  Were  the  heathen  coun- 
tries of  our  times  like  Asia  Minor,  Macedonia,  and  Achaia, 
we  should  need  to  provide  only  for  tire  personal  and  family 
expenses  of  missionaries,  and  for  printing  the  Scriptures  and 
religious  books  and  tracts  ;  and  even  a  part  of  this  expense, 
and  soon  the  whole,  would  be  defrayed  by  the  converts.  More- 
over, owing  to  the  present  state  of  the  heathen  nations,  we 

(242) 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE   MISSIONS.  243 

have  .found  stronger  reasons  than  the  apostle  Paul  had  at 
Corinth  and  Thessalonica,  for  not  looking  to  converts  for  the 
personal  support  of  missionaries.  The  most  we  can  expect  from 
them  is,  that  they  shall  support  their  own  native  teachers  and 
preachers,  and  gradually  assume  the  support  of  their  schools, 
and  of  the  press. 

Among  the  developments  common  to  the  missions,  the  most 
important  has  been  in  the  matter  of  preaching.  While  this 
has  by  no  means  been  restricted  to  the  Sabbath,  there  has 
been  a  tendency  to  give  more  and  more  significance  to  the 
day,  by  regular  preaching  in  some  one  place.  It  has  gen- 
erally required  long  time  and  patience  to  collect  and  sus- 
tain even  a  small  adult  congregation,  but  not  otherwise  has  it 
been  possible  to  keep  up  the  tone  of  the  enterprise.  The  mis- 
sionary has  needed  the  preparation  for  such  a  duty,  as  well  as 
its  reacting  influence  upon  his  own  mind  and  heart.  He  has 
needed  a  service  where  he  could  speak  authoritatively  as  an 
embassador,  without  the  humiliation  of  rude  objections  and 
foul  abuse.  The  native  Christians  have  also  needed  regular, 
well-studied  exhibitions  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  and  of  their 
duty  as  Christians.  They  could  not  be  adequately  informed 
and  elevated  to  the  self-governing,  self-sustaining  basis  by 
means  of  mere  conversational  preaching.  They  required  the 
benefit,  indeed,  of  every  one  of  the  auxiliary  means  of  grace, 
but  could  never  reach  their  full  stature  as  Christians  without 
the  regular,  stated,  formal  preaching  of  the  word.  The 
heathen  then  saw  the  missionary  in  his  true  place  and  dignity. 
If  they  did  not  often  go  to  hear  him,  they  knew  there  was  a  day 
which  he  regarded  as  specially  set  apart  by  the  God  of  heaven 
for  declaring  and  for  hearing  the  truths  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion ;  and  also  a  time  when  the  missionary  assumed  authority 
to  speak,  and  when  it  was  the  sole  business  of  all  others 
to  hear. 

Not  only  has  he  preached  the  gospel  orally,  statedly,  for- 
mally on  the  Sabbath,  and  more  familiarly  during  the  week, 
but  as  a  good  Protestant  Christian  he  has  sought  to  give 
the  Bible  to  the  people.  And  as  that  could  benefit  them  only 


244  THE  MISSIONS. 

as  they  were  able  to  read,  he  found  it  needful  to  open  schools ; 
not  with  the  expectation  of  teaching  the  whole  population  to 
read,  nor  even  a  considerable  portion  of  it,  —  that  being 
impossible,  —  but  to  form  such  a  public  sentiment  as  in  the 
end  would  insure  this  result.  A  demand  was  thus  created 
for  school  books  and  for  the  press.  The  schools  served  as  an 
introduction  and  a  tie  to  the  people  at  the  outset  of  the  work, 
and  as  a  means  of  infusing  Christian  ideas  into  the  language. 
As  converts  multiplied,  it  became  an  interesting  question  how 
to  provide  native  pastors  for  them,  and  how  to  convert  the 
more  promising  of  the  pious  youth  into  evangelists  and  teach- 
ers. "Without  such,  the  mission  could  never  finish  its  work ; 
hence  institutions  arose  for  training  both  males  and  females. 
When  natives  had  thus  been  prepared  to  be  helpers  in  the  dif- 
ferent departments,  it  became  needful  to  aid  in  their  support 
until  the  native  churches  should  be  able  and  willing  to  sustain 
them  ;  otherwise  some  of  the  most  valuable  and  costly  results 
of  missionary  labor  would  be  wholly  sacrificed  and  lost. 

LAWS  OF  GROWTH. 

The  more  important  indications  of  progress  in  the  missions 
have  been  these  —  collecting  hearers,  reducing  languages  to 
writing,  translating  the  Scriptures,  forming  Christian  schools, 
creating  a  desire  for  education,  awakening  anxiety  to  learn 
the  way  of  life,  multiplying  converts,  gathering  churches, 
training  up  a  native  ministry,  and  leading  the  people  to  sup- 
port it ;  and  whatever  else  goes  to  improve  and  elevate  the 
domestic,  social,  civil,  and  religious  life  of  the  people.  And 
this  leads  to  the  remark,  that  continued  progress  has  been 
found  essential  .to  the  prosperity  of  the  missions.  Regarded 
in  their  spiritual  nature,  missions  seem  to  be  under  the  same 
laws  with  individual  Christians,  in  whose  spiritual  life  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  standing  still,  but  advancement  is  the  con- 
dition of  health.  A  living  mission  must  needs  grow  and 
spread  its  branches,  like  a  tree.  It  increases  in  its  demands 
for  labor,  oversight,  nutriment,  and  expenditure.  We  learn 


LAWS   OF   GROWTH.  245 

this  from  experience.  The  greater  the  disposition  to  hear,  the 
greater  is  the  need  of  preaching  and  of  preaching  houses. 
The  more  diffused  and  earnest  the  desire  for  schools,  the 
greater  is  the  demand  for  teachers,  school  houses,  and  school 
books.  In  proportion  to  the  progress  of  mind  and  feeling 
upward  from  barbarism,  has  been  the  cost  of  printing,  (if  the 
means  were  at  hand,)  and  the  demand  for  the  lights  and 
advantages  of  general  knowledge.  But  the  most  urgent 
among  the  growing  expenses  in  a  prosperous  mission  have 
been  those  for  the  training  and  support  of  helpers  in  the 
higher  classes  of  native  agency  ;  and  the  measures  for  rearing 
this  agency  having  been  commenced,  they  have  been  found 
essentially  progressive,  but  with  this  redeeming  feature,  that 
at  length  they  begin  to  diminish  the  demand  for  foreign 
laborers. 

A  reference  to  the  varying  expenditure  of  the  Board  would 
not  invalidate  this  statement;  because  the  expenditure  has 
been  more  or  less  subject  to  arbitrary  limitations,  —  determined 
by  the  amount  of  receipts,  rather  than  by  the  actual  necessities 
of  the  missions.  Who  can  tell  what  an  amount  of  good  in 
missions  has  been  thus  annually  sacrificed?  Who  has  not 
sympathized  with  the  disappointments  and  griefs  of  the  mis- 
sionaries ?  It  is  melancholy  to  think  of  the  waste  of  influence 
thus  occasioned  in  the  missions,  since  they  reached  the  stages 
of  manifest  success.  The  churches  have  not  seemed  prepared 
for  rapid  progress.  Instead  of  glad  praises  to  God  for  thus 
answering  prayer  for  the  extension  of  his  kingdom  in  foreign 
lands,  the  officers  of  the  Board  have  often  been  put  upon  the 
painful  task  of  showing  that  they  have  labored  to  the  utmost 
to  check  the  speed  of  their  missionary  trains. 

There  has  been  a  growth  of  experience  and^  skill  in  the  con- 
duct of  missions  during  the  past  half  century.  It  is  indeed 
true  that  our  fathers,  at  the  outset,  gave  the  preeminence  to 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  in  their  theory  of  missions,  as 
really  as  do  their  successors.  Thus  they  wrote  as  far  back  as 
the  year  1813,  and  nothing  stronger  can  be  said  now :  "  Im- 
portant as  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  among  the 


246  THE  MISSIONS. 

heathen  in  their  own  language,  is  held  to  be  by  us  and  by 
the  Christian  public  generally,  it  should  never  be  forgotten, 
that  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  in  every  part  of  the  earth,  is 
indispensable  to  the  general  conversion  of  mankind.  Though 
the  Scriptures  alone  have,  in  many  individual  cases,  been 
made  the  instrument  of  regeneration,  yet  we  have  no  account 
of  any  very  extensive  diffusion' of  Christianity  except  where  the 
truths  of  the  Scriptures  have  been  preached.  Were  the  heathen 
generally  anxious  to  receive  the  Scriptures  and  to  learn  divine 
truth,  they  would,  like  the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  apply  for  instruc- 
tion to  those  who  had  been  previously  acquainted  with  the 
same  Scriptures,  and,  when  asked  if  they  understood  what 
they  had  read,  would  reply,  '  How  can  we,  except  some  man 
should  guide  us  ? '  The  distribution  of  the  Bible  excites  in- 
quiry, and  often  leads  those  who  receive  that  precious  book 
to  attend  public  worship  in  the  sanctuary.  But  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel  is,  after  all,  the  grand  means  appointed  by  Infi- 
nite Wisdom  for  the  conversion  and  salvation  of  men.  With- 
out this,  the  Scriptures,  however  liberally  distributed,  will 
have  comparatively  little  effect  among  any  people,  whether 
Pagan  or  nominally  Christian."  And  again,  in  1817 :  "  The 
translation  and  dispersion  of  the  Scriptures,  and  schools  for 
the  instruction  of  the  young,  are  parts,  and  necessary  parts, 
of  the  great  design.  But  it  must  never  be  forgotten,  or  over- 
looked, that  the  command  is,  to  '  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature,'  and  that  the  preaching  of  the  word,  however  foolish 
it  may  seem  to  men,  is  the  grand  mean  appointed  by  the  wis- 
dom of  God  for  the  saving  conversion  of  the  nations." 

From  this  practical  view  of  the  work,  taken  by  the  Board  at 
the  opening  of  its  career,  there  has  been  no  intentional  depart- 
ure, either  by  the  Prudential  Committee  or  by  the  missions. 
Schools  and  the  press  have  always  been  regarded  as  subordi- 
nate to  preaching.  When  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts 
have  also  "been  taught,  as  in  the  Indian  missions,  and  at  first 
on  the  Sandwich  Islands,  it  has  been  as  a  subordinate  means. 
At  the  same  time,  there  has  been  a  tendency  in  the  more 
important  of  the  auxiliary  influences  to  transcend  their  proper 


HOW  THE   WORK   MAY   BE   COMPLETED.  247 

limits.  Book-making  has  sometimes  acquired  an  undue  prom- 
inence, especially  in  the  early  periods,  when  some  brethren 
may  have  found  it  easier  even  to  translate  the  Scriptures, 
than  to  preach  in  a  foreign  tongue,  and  when  preaching 
yielded  little  apparent  fruit,  and  schools  were  easily  multi- 
plied, and  tracts  and  books  could  be  circulated  to  any  extent. 
In  the  chapter  on  the  difficulties  in  obtaining  the  Board's 
charter,  it  was  seen  hpw  translating  and  circulating  the  Scrip- 
tures then  preponderated,  in  the  public  mind,  over  preaching 
as  a  means  of  converting  the  heathen. 

The  subordinate  agencies  have  been  gradually  falling  into 
their  places,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  expect,  under  the  lead  of 
the  Great  Captain,  that  the  progress  of  the  gospel  will  be  more 
rapid  in  the  second  half-century  than  it  has  been  in  the  first. 

How  THE  WORK  MAY  BE  COMPLETED. 

It  is  an  unsettled  problem  how  the  work  of  missions  may  be 
so  finished,  that  the  missionary  force  can  safely  withdraw, 
leaving  the  new  Christian  community  to  take  care  of  itself. 
There  are  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  social  difficulties  to  be 
first  overcome  ;  and  these  are  often  much  aggravated  by 
adverse  influences  from  abroad.  Out  of  what  depths  of  moral 
and  social  degradation  is  every  heathen  convert  raised  before 
he  is  fitted  for  membership  of  the  church  of  Christ !  "  And 
such  were  some  of  you," — "  fornicators,  idolaters,  adulterers, 
effeminate,  abusers  of  themselves  with  mankind,  thieves,  cov- 
etous, drunkards,  revilers,  extortioners."  (1  Cor.  vi.  10,  11.) 
But  though  "justified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  they 
are  sanctified  only  in  part,  "babes  in  Christ,"  continually 
needing  to  be  taught  "  which  be  the  first  principles  of  the  ora- 
cles of  God."  Who  can  realize  what  it  is,  and  what  it  must 
be,  for  an  entire  community  of  Christians  to  have  had  their 
home,  for  a  long  course  of  years  before  conversion,  where  truth 
had  fallen  in  the  street,  and  equity  could  not  enter,  with- 
out rule  or  protection  of  law,  with  no  standard  of  morality,  no 
domestic  virtue,  no  culture  of  the  affections,  no  correct  public 


248  THE  MISSIONS. 

sentiment,  and  almost  no  conscience  ?  And  who,  that  has 
closely  observed  the  weaknesses  and  imperfections  of  human 
nature  in  its  most  favored  conditions,  is  not  prepared  for  occa- 
sional and  violent  outbreaks  of  ingratitude,  passion,  wayward- 
ness, and  wickedness,  in  churches  gathered  from  the  lower, 
and  sometimes  the  lowest,  depths  of  humanity  ?  That  such 
churches  should  live,  thrive,  and  ever  reach  the  self-sustaining 
point,  is  a  miracle  of  grace.  « 

Causes  such  as  these  had  their  influence  in  churches  gath- 
ered by  the  apostle  Paul,  as  we  see  in  his  Epistles.  At  Cor- 
inth he  had  occasion  to  lament  the  many  who  had  been  carried 
away  by  false  teachers,  their  disorderly  worship,  their  irreg- 
ularities at  the  Lord's  Supper,  their  negligent  discipline,  their 
party  divisions,  their  litigations,  debates,  envyings,  wraths, 
strifes,  backbitings,  whisperings,  swellings,  tumults.  And 
how  soon  were  the  Galatians  seduced  from  their  loyalty  to  the 
truth,  so  that  the  apostle  feared  he  had  labored  among  them  in 
vain !  He  exhorts  the  Ephesian  church  members  to  put  away 
lying,  to  steal  no  more,  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  cov- 
etousness  and  fornication.  Four  years  after  this  he  speaks 
of  his  helpers  in  Lesser  Asia  as  all  turned  away  from  him. 
That  he  had  not  full  confidence  in  all  the  native  pastors 
appears  from  his  address  at  Miletus.  At  Rome,  there  were 
those  who  preached  Christ  of  envy  and  strife,  supposing  to 
add  affliction  to  his  bonds ;  and  at  his  first  arraignment  before 
Caesar,  not  a  member  of  the  Roman  church  had  the  courage 
to  stand  by  him.  To  the  Philippians  he  declares  his  belief 
that  many  professed  Christians  were  enemies  of  the  cause  of 
Christ,  and  gloried  in  their  shame,  minding  earthly  things. 
In  this  same  Epistle  he  speaks  in  desponding  terms  of  his 
native  helpers,  who  sought  their  own,  and  not  the*  things  of 
Jesus  Christ.  He  thought  it  needful  to  exhort  the  Colossians 
not  to  lie  one  to  another,  and  the  Thessalonians  to  withdraw 
from  such  as  walked  disorderly.  He  cautions  Timothy  against 
fables,  endless  genealogies,  and  profane  babblings,  as  if  such 
were  prevalent  in  some  of  the  churches ;  and  speaks  of 
preachers  destitute  of  the  truth,  with  corrupt  minds,  ignorant, 


HOW  THE  WORK  MAY  BE  COMPLETED.  -  249 

proud,  addicted  to  controversies  that  engendered  envy,  strifes, 
disputations,  and  railings ;  and  of  some  who  had  even  made 
shipwreck  of  the  faith,  and  added  blasphemy  to  their  heresies. 
The  apostle  John,  somewhat  later,  declares  that  many  "  anti- 
christs "  had  gone  out  from  the  church,  denying  the  Father 
and  the  Son. 

Yet  it  is  generally  supposed  that  the  Apostolical  Churches 
possessed  as  much  piety  as  the  best  portions  of  the  visible 
Church  of  our  times.  Indeed,  the  great  apostle  speaks  of 
Roman  Christians,  only  a  few  years  before  the  date  of  his 
Epistles  to  Timothy,  as  being  noted  for  their  faith  throughout 
the  world.  At  the  very  time  of  his  censures  on  the  Corinthi- 
ans, he  declares  that  church  to  be  "  enriched  by  Jesus  Christ 
in  all  utterance  and  in  all  knowledge,"  so  that  it  came  behind 
in  no  gift.  While  he  so  seriously  cautious  the  Ephesians,  he 
ceases  not  to  give  thanks  for  their  "  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  their  love  unto  all  the  saints."  He  thanked  God  upon 
every  remembrance  of  the  Philippians  ;  and  when  he  wrote  to 
the  Colossians,  he  gave  thanks  for  their  faith  in  Christ  Jesus, 
and  their  love  in  the  Spirit,  and  to  all  the  saints.  And  how 
remarkable  his  testimony  in  behalf  of  the  Thessalonians !  He 
remembered,  without  ceasing  and  with  constant  gratitude, 
their  work  of  faith,  and  labor  of  love,  and  patience  of  hope  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  wherein  they  had  become  followers  of 
him  and  of  the  Lord,  having  received  the  word  in  much  afflic- 
tion, with  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  that  they  were  examples 
to  all  that  believed,  in  Macedonia  and.  Achaia. 

The  fact  undoubtedly  is,  that  visible  irregularities  and  dis- 
orders, and  even  certain  immoralities,  are  more  to  be  expected 
in  churches  gathered  from  among  the  heathen,  than  in  the 
churches  of  Christendom ;  and  they  are,  at  the  same  time, 
more  consistent  with  grace  in  the  church,  than  in  countries 
that  have  long  enjoyed  the  light  and  influence  of  the  gospel. 
"While  the  primitive  converts  from  paganism  were  remarkable 
for  the  high  tone  of  their  religious  feelings,  and  the  simplicity 
and  strength  of  their  faith,  they  were  wanting  in  respect  to  a 
clear,  practical  apprehension  of  the  ethical  code  of  the  gospel. 
32 


250  THE  MISSIONS. 

It  is  obvious,  that  Paul  found  the  burden  of  his  "  care  of  the 
churches  "  much  enhanced  by  the  thoroughly  wicked  character 
of  the  age.  His  manner  of  treating  the  native  pastors  and 
churches  is  a  model  for  missionaries  and  their  supporters  in 
our  day,  who  ought  to  expect  greater  manifestations  of  igno- 
rance, weakness,  and  sin  in  churches  that  are  gathered  in 
Africa,  India,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands, .  than  at  Ephesus, 
Colosse",  and  Corinth,  in  the  palmy  days  of  Roman  civilization. 

This  imperfect  state  of  the  native  churches,  and  the  circum- 
stances in  which  they  exist,  have  made  it  difficult  for  the  mis- 
sions to  reach  a  point  where  these  churches  might  be  safely 
left,  even  after  the  native  community  had  become  Christianized. 
There  is  a  limit  beyond  which  it  has  not  been  found  practi- 
cable to  go,  in  procuring  and  supporting  a  foreign  missionary 
force  in  any  one  field ;  as  there  has  been  in  the  support  of  an 
English  army  in  India :  nor  are  nations  conquered  by  one 
simultaneous,  universal  onset,  but  by  successive  victories.  It 
has  been  found,  too,  that  a  less  number  of  foreign  missionaries 
is  needful  for  the  work  in  a  heathen  country,  than  was  once 
supposed.  There  must  be  room  for  the  free  growth  and  action 
of  a  numerous  native  ministry,  and  for  devolving  upon  that 
ministry  the  heaviest  responsibility  it  will  bear. 

The  popular  sentiment  at  home  is  believed  to  have  required 
too  much  of  the  missions.  A  standard  has  been  prescribed 
for  their  ultimate  success,  which  renders  their  satisfactory  ter- 
mination quite  impossible,  or  at  best  throws  it  into  the  far, 
uncertain  future.  The  Christian  religion  has  been  identified, 
in  the  popular  conception  of  it,  with  a  general  diffusion  of 
education,  industry,  civil  liberty,  family  government,  and  social 
order,  and  with  the  means  of  a  respectable  livelihood  and  a 
well-ordered  community.  Hence  our  idea  of  piety  in  native 
converts  has  generally  involved  the  acquisition  and  possession, 
to  a  great  extent,  of  these  blessings  ;  and  our  idea  of  the  prop- 
agation of  the  gospel  by  means  of  missions  is,  to  an  equal 
extent,  the  creation  among  heathen  tribes  and  nations  of  a 
state  of  society  such  as  we  enjoy.  And  for  this  vast  intellect- 
ual, moral,  social  transformation  we  allow  but  a  short  time. 


y 

HOW   THE   WORK   MAY  BE   COMPLETED.  251 

' — 7 
We  have  expected  the  first  generation  of  converts,  even  among  \ 

savages,  to  come  pretty  fully  into  our  fundamental  ideas  of  \J 
morals,  manners,  political  economy,  social  organization,  jus-  1 
tice,  equityT^aBh^uglTliiany  of  these  are  ideas  which  old__\ 
Christian  communities  have  been  ages  in  acquiring.     If  we 
have  discovered  that  converts  under  the  torrid  zone  go  half 
clothed,  are  idle  on  a  soil  where  a  small  amount  of  labor  sup- 
plies their  wants,  sometimes  forget  the  apostle's  cautions  to 
his  converts,  "  not  to  lie  one  to  another,"  and  "  to  steal  no 
more,"  in  communities  where  the  grossest  vice  scarcely  affects 
the  reputation,  and  are  slow  to  adopt  our  ideas  of  the  rights 
of  man,  we  at  once  doubt  the  genuineness  of  their  conversion, 
and  the  faithfulness  of  their  missionary  instructors. 

It  is  an  important  and  encouraging  consideration,  in  the 
effort  to  bring  missions  to  a  successful  issue,  that  an  increas- 
ing outlay  is  not  always  necessary  to  meet  the  demands  of  a 
growing  and  prosperous  mission.  This  results  from  an  increase 
of  intelligence,  experience,  and  piety  in  missionaries,  thus  aug- 
menting their  superintending  and  executive  power ;  from  a 
similar  growth  in  the  native  ministry ;  from  substituting  the 
less  expensive  native  agency  for  the  missionary,  thus  multi- 
plying stations  without  increasing  the  foreign  force ;  from  de- 
veloping the  native  churches;  from  new  discoveries  in  the 
relations  and  powers  of  the  missionary  enterprise,  increasing 
the  simplicity  and  economy  of  its  spiritual  machinery  ;  and 
from  new  arrangements  and  combinations,  to  meet  the  con- 
stantly increasing  expenditure  in  some  parts  of  the  system,  by 
a  constantly  diminishing  outlay  in  others. 

The  work  of  the  missionary  has  been  performed  mainly  at 
central  points  ;  and  when  this  work  shall  have  been  completed 
at  all  these  points,  and  there  is  no  more  need  of  new  stations, 
—  when  it  is  possible  for  gospel  institutions  to  exist,  through 
divine  grace,  without  the  longer  presence  of  the  missionary,  — 
then  the  work  of  the  mission  in  that  coimnunity  is  obviously 
completed.  The  missionary,  having  "  no  more  place  in  those 
parts,"  should  go  and  preach  the  gospel  elsewhere.  It  is  a 
great  point  to  know  when  to  do  this.  After  a  native  church  is 


252  THE   MISSIONS. 

formed,  it  should  have,  as  soon  as  possible,  a  native  pastor  and 
the  needed  church  officers ;  and  the  native  pastor  should  have 
ample  scope  for  preaching,  and  for  all  his  ministerial  and  pas- 
toral abilities  and  duties.  The  local  church  is  the  divinely 
appointed  illuminating  power  for  its  district.  It  is  the  great 
power  in  missions.  It  is  a  leaven,  which  may  be  expected  in 
time  to  leaven  the  whole  lump.  With  a  somewhat  reserved 
and  discreet  superintendence  on  the  part  of  the  nearest  mis- 
sionary, it  will  thrive  best,  after  a  proper  organization,  by  being 
left  to  itself.  Thus  station  after  station  may  be  finished,  and 
new  conquests  be  continually  made,  with  almost  no  enlarge- 
ment in  the  number  of  the  foreign  force,  and  also  without 
any  material  increase  of  expenditure ;  provided  the  native  pas- 
tors have  not  been  rendered  too  expensive  by  an  injudicious 
education,  doing  less  to  fit  them  for  their  work  than  to  make 
them  dissatisfied  in  it,  and  provided  the  duty  of  self-support 
has  been  properly  urged  upon  the  native  churches. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

PROGRESS   OF   THE   WORK. 

Communities  that  have  been  Christianized.  —  SANDWICH  ISLANDS.  Missionaries  and 
their  Children.  —  Solution  of  the  Problem! — Present  Dangers. —  The  Founders  and 
Fathers  of  the  Mission  to  remain. —  CHEROKEES.  The  Mission  discontinued. — 
CHOCTAWS.  Dr.  Kiugsbury's  Testimony.  —  Hinderances  to  Progress.  —  The  Mis- 
sions successful Discontinued.  —  TUSCARORAS.  Long  since  Christianized.  —  Why 

the  Mission  was  not  sooner  discontinued.  —  STATIONS.  What  is  meant  by  a  Chris- 
tianized Station. —  Illustrations.  —  Pastors  of  Station  Churches.  —  The  Centralizing 
Policy,  and  its  Effect  on  Village  Stations.  —  When  it  should  be  changed.  —  Educa- 
tion for  Native  Preachers  of  the  First  Generation.  —  Historical  Catalogue  of  the 
Missions. 

THE  Board  can  not  be  said  to  have  completed  the  work  of 
any  one  of  its  missions,  if  this  involve  the  idea  of  a  native 
Christian  community  able  to  stand  alone.  Yet  several  of  the 
heathen  communities  in  which  it  has  labored  have  been  Chris- 
tianized, in  the  popular  acceptation  of  that  term. 

The  SANDWICH  ISLANDS  have  been  thus  Christianized.  In 
the  year  1853,  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  the  Prudential  Committee 
made  the  following  statement  to  the  Board :  — 

The  mission  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  left  the  United  States 
October  23,  1819,  and  first  saw  the  Islands  early  in  the  follow- 
ing April.  God  prepared  their  way ;  one  of  the  strangest  of 
revolutions  having  occurred  just  before  their  arrival.  The 
national  idols  had  been  destroyed,  the  temples  burned,  the 
priesthood,  tabus,  and  human  sacrifices  abolished.  All  this, 
however,  was  only  a  removal  of  obstacles.  It  really  did  noth 
ing  to  improve  the  character  of  the  people,  nor  could  it  alone 
have  ameliorated  their  condition. 

The  horrid  rites  of  idolatry  had  ceased ;  but  the  moral, 
intellectual,  social  desolation  was  none  the  less  profound  and 

(253) 


254  THE  MISSIONS. 

universal.  Society  was  in  ruins,  and  could  not  exist  at  a 
much  lower  point ;  and  it  was  there  the  mission  commenced 
its  work.  What  desolation  was  there  in  the  native  mind,  as 
regards  all  useful  knowledge !  The  language  was  unwritten, 
and  of  course  there  were  neither  books,  schools,  nor  education. 
The  nation  was  composed  of  thieves,  drunkards,  and  debau- 
chees. The  land  was  owned  by  the  king  and  his  chiefs,  and 
the  people  were  slaves.  Constitutions,  laws,  courts  of  justice 
there  were  none,  and  no  conception  of  such  things  in  the 
native  mind.  Property,  life,  every  thing  was  in  the  hands  of 
arbitrary,  irresponsible  chiefs,  who  filled  the  land  with  discord 
and  oppression. 

But  that  people  has  become  a  Christian  nation  ;  not  civil- 
ized, in  the  modern  acceptation  of  the  term ;  not  able,  perhaps, 
to  sustain  itself  unaided  in  any  one  great  department  of 
national  existence.  Laws,  institutions,  civilization,  the  great 
compact  of  social  and  political  life,  are  of  slower  growth  than 
Christianity.  A  nation  may  be  Christian,  while  its  intellect  is 
but  partially  developed,  and  its  municipal  and  civil  institutions 
are  in  their  infancy.  In  this  sense,  the  Hawaiian  nation  is  a 
Christian  nation,  and  will  abide  the  severest  scrutiny  by  every 
appropriate  test.  All  the  religion  they  now  have  claims  the 
Christian  name.  A  fourth  part  of  the  inhabitants  are  mem- 
bers in  regular  standing  of  Protestant  Christian  churches. 
The  nation  recognizes  the  obligations  of  the  Sabbath.  Houses 
for  Christian  worship  are  built  by  the  people,  and  frequented 
as  among  ourselves.  So  much,  indeed,  was  the  blood  of  the 
nation  polluted  by  an  impure  commerce  with  the  world,  before 
our  Christian  mission,  that  the  people  have  a  strong  remaining 
tendency  to  licentiousness,  which  the  gospel  will  scarcely 
remove  till  a  more  general  necessity  exists  for  industry  and 
remaining  at  home.  The  weakness  of  the  nation  is  here. 
But  Christian  marriage  is  enjoined  and  regulated  by  the  laws, 
and  the  number  of  marriage  licenses  taken  out,  in  the  year 
1852,  exceeded  two  thousand.  The  language  is  reduced  to 
writing,  and  is  read  by  nearly  a  third  part  of  the  people.  The 
schools  contain  the  great  body  of  the  children  and  youth. 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   WORK.  255 

The  annual  outlay  for  education,  chiefly  by  the  government, 
exceeds  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  Bible,  translated  by  the 
labors  of  eight  missionaries,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  people 
before  the  year  1840  ;  and  there  are  elementary  books  in  the- 
ology, practical  religion,  geography,  arithmetic,  astronomy, 
and  history,  —  making  together  a  respectable  library  for  a 
people  in  the  early  stages  of  civilization.  Since  the  press  first 
put  forth  its  efforts  in  the  language  on  the  7th  of  January, 
1822,  there  have  been  issued  nearly  two  hundred  millions  of 
pages.  Through  the  blessing  of  God  on  these  instrumental- 
ities, a  beneficent  change  has  occurred  in  all  the  departments 
of  the  government,  in  the  face  of  fierce  outrages  from  seamen 
and  traders,  and  deadly  hostility  from  not  a  few  foreign  res- 
idents. The  very  first  article  in  the  Constitution,  promulgated 
by  the  king  and  chiefs  in  the  year  1840,  declares  "  that  no  law 
shall  be  enacted  which  is  at  variance  with  the  word  of  the 
Lord  Jehovah,  or  with  the  general  spirit  of  his  word ; "  and 
that  "  all  the  laws  of  the  Islands  shall  be  in  consistency  with 
God's  law."  What  was  this  but  a  public,  solemn,  national 
profession  of  the  Christian  religion,  on  the  high  Puritan  basis  ? 
And  the  laws  and  administration  of  the  government  since  that 
time,  have  been  as  consistent  with  this  profession,  to  say  the 
least,  as  those  of  any  other  Christian  government  in  the  world. 
The  statute  laws  organizing  the  general  government  and 
courts  of  justice,  the  criminal  code,  and  reported  trials  in  the 
courts,  printed  in  the  English  language,  make  five  octavo  vol- 
umes in  the  library  of  the  Board.  Court  houses,  prisons, 
roads,  bridges,  surveys  of  lands,  and  their  distribution,  with 
secure  titles,  among  the  people,  are  in  constant  progress. 

Here,  then,  let  us,  as  a  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  in  the 
name  of  the  community  for  which  we  act,  proclaim  with  shout- 
ings of  grace,  grace !  that  the  people  of  the  Sandwich  Islands 
are  a  Christian  nation,  and  may  rightfully  claim  a  place  among 
the  Protestant  Christian  nations  of  the  earth ! 

While  there  could  be  no  question  that  the  Hawaiian  nation 
was  at  that  time  a  Christian  nation,  in  every  sense  in  which 


256  THE  MISSIONS. 

the  term  is  applicable  to  the  nations  of  Christendom,  yet  it 
was  certain  that  the  missionaries  could  not  then  be  spared 
from  the  field ;  nor  was  there  any  institution,  save  the  Ameri- 
can Board,  to  sustain  them  in  that  remote  position.  The  prob- 
lem to  be  solved  was  one  of  great  difficulty.  There  were  no 
precedents.  The  Prudential  Committee  had  to  feel  their  way 
step  by  step.  The  missionaries,  with  but  few  exceptions,  were 
fearful  and  backward  to  loose  their  hold  upon  the  Board.  A 
new  and  peculiar  arrangement  was  therefore  entered  \ipon  to 
meet  the  new  and  peculiar  emergency.  The  plan  was  to  sub- 
stitute the  home  missionary  system  for  the  foreign ;  the  Board 
occupying  the  place  of  a  Home  Missionary  Society.  This 
change  was  brought  about  gradually.  The  plan  was  first  pro- 
posed in  the  year  1848,  and  received  its  form  from  the  manner 
in  which  the  case  first  came  before  the  Committee. 

There  were  then  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  children  of 
missionaries  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  nearly  fifty  of  whom 
were  ten  years  old  and  upward.  An  application  was  received 
from  five  families,  containing  twenty-five  children,  for  permis- 
sion to  come  to  this  country,  and  provide  for  the  support  and 
education  of  the  older  children  ;  and  there  were  then  sixteen 
other  families  which  would  soon  be  similarly  situated.  The 
bearing  of  this  upon  the  welfare,  and  even  the  existence,  of  the 
mission  was  at  once  perceived.  It  resulted  from  the  modern 
method  of  conducting  missions  to  the  heathen  mainly  by  mar- 
ried missionaries,  in  connection  with  the  extraordinary  health- 
fulness  of  the  Islands,  favoring  the  enlargement  of  families. 
But  this  very  oceanic  climate,  along  with  the  growing  commer- 
cial relations  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  the  Christianized 
state  of  the  people,  gave  occasion  for  a  method  of  retaining 
the  families  there.  The  missionaries  were  encouraged  to  take 
a  qualified  release  from  their  connection  with  the  Board,  and 
become  Hawaiian  citizens ;  and  if  they  should  declare  their 
intention  of  remaining  at  the  Islands  in  the  gospel  ministry, 
they  were  to  receive  their  proportional  part  of  the  property 
held  by  the  Board  at  their  respective  stations  ;  and  the  gov- 
ernment also  engaged,  on  this  condition,  to  insure  them  an  abso- 
lute right  in  the  lands  thus  held. 


PROGRESS   OF  THE   WORK.  257 

Through  the  divine  blessing,  this  arrangement  was  success- 
ful. The  five  families  referred  to  are  still  at  the  Islands,  and 
so,  with  but  a  single  exception,  are  the  others.  The  missiona- 
ries have  passed  the  ordeal  with  far  less  damage  than  was 
feared.  The  Board  is  advancing  prosperously  in  the  second 
stage  of  its  work,  except  that  there  is  yet  no  definite  prospect 
of  a  time  when  it  may  safely  withdraw  its  expenditure.  Dur- 
ing this  critical  period,  Providence  has  made  it  for  the  interest 
of  the  great  commercial  nations  to  restrain  each  other  from 
any  considerable  interference  with  the  native  government. 
The  obstacles  arising  from  a  wicked  and  lawless  foreign  com- 
merce, once  so  formidable,  have  been  coming  under  the  re- 
straints of  law  and  public  opinion,  somewhat  as  in  older 
Christian  lands.  The  reckless  zeal  of  Roman  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries has  been  one  of  the  chief  influences  requiring  the 
presence  of  a  strong  Protestant  force.  This  hostile  influence 
is  not,  however,  without  its  advantages  to  the  missionaries  and 
to  the  native  Christians ;  and  perhaps  the  most  effectual  bar- 
rier against  Papal  inroads  will  be  the  multiplication  of  native 
churches  with  a  native  ministry  —  those  spiritual  fortresses 
which  our  Lord  requires  to  be  erected  all  over  the  world,  and 
which  he  engages  to  defend.  But  in  the  way  of  securing  a 
competent  native  ministry,  there  are  all  those  inherent  diffi- 
culties in  the  nature  of  man,  which  so  impede  and  impair  the 
graces  of  the  churches  in  our  own  land,  and  they  are  en- 
hanced and  aggravated  by  the  long  reign  of  heathenism. 
Churches  with  such  a  ministry,  and  so  situated,  would  seem 
to  need  the  continued  presence  and  guardianship  of  the  found- 
ers and  fathers  of  the  new  Christian  community. 

The  CHEROKEES  may  be  regarded  as,  in  the  popular  sense,  a 
Christian  nation.  At  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Board, 
the  following  announcement  respecting  the  mission  to  the 
Cherokees  was  made  by  the  Prudential  Committee :  — 

This  mission,  one  of  the  oldest  under  the  care  of  the  Board, 
has  been  in  operation  about  forty-three  years,  and  has  employed 
eighteen  clerical  missionaries,  twenty-nine  laymen  of  different 


258  THE  MISSIONS. 

occupations,  and  sixty-six  female  assistant  missionaries,  or  one 
hundred  and  thirteen  in  all ;  and  three  hundred  and  fifty-six 
thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-one  dollars  have  been 
expended  in  it  from  the  treasury  of  the  Board.  As  the  result 
of  these  and  other  kindred  efforts,  the  Cherokees  have  been 
elevated  from  the  savage  state  to  their  present  degree  of  civil- 
ization. Doubtless,  among  the  ignorant  portions  of  the  peo- 
ple, there  are  remains  of  superstitious  notions  and  habits 
greater  than  are  found  in  older  Christian  communities ;  but 
however  low  may  be  the  standard  of  their  Christianity,  it  is 
their  only  religion.  The  people  are  generally,  as  with  us, 
ranked  in  one  of  the  evangelical  denominations.  And  they 
are  accessible  to  Christian  preachers,  and  listen  to  them  with 
the  same  deference  as  do  their  white  brethren  in  the  adjoining 
States.  They  inhabit  chiefly  the  eastern  section  of  their  ter- 
ritory, which  borders  on  the  State  of  Arkansas,  extending 
north  and  south  about  one  hundred  miles,  and  east  and  west 
about  seventy-five  miles,  and  their  number  is  reckoned  at 
twenty-one  thousand.  Our  three  missionary  brethren  residing 
among  them,  concur  in  the  opinion  that  they  reckon  them- 
selves, and  are  to  be  acknowledged,  a  Christian  people.  Mr. 
Torrey  says,  "  Christianity  is  recognized  among  them,  as  much 
as  in  any  portion  of  the  United  States.  Their  constitution 
provides  that  no  person  who  denies  the  being  of  a  God,  or  a 
future  state  of  reward  and  punishment,  shall  hold  any  office 
in  the  civil  department  of  this  nation."  Mr.  Ranney  says, 
"  The  nation,  as  such,  I  presume,  would  claim  to  be  called  a 
Christian  nation.  Some  laws  have  been  passed  by  the  Chero- 
kee Council  which  have  recognized  Christianity  as  the  religion 
of  the  nation.  This  has  been  done  incidentally,  rather  than 
directly  and  positively.  I  suppose  that  almost  universally  they 
would  desire  to  be  called  Christians."  And  Mr.  Willey  bears 
a  similar  testimony.  "  I  think,"  he  says,  "  that  the  Cherokees, 
as  a  nation,  may  justly  be  called  a  nominally  Christian  nation. 
The  Cherokee  Constitution  recognizes  the  Christian  religion, 
and  requires  a  belief  in  it  by  all  who  hold  office  under  the 
government.  All  teachers  in  the  public  schools  are  required 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WORK.  259 

by  law  to  have  the  Bible  read  in  their  schools  daily ;  and  when 
they  are  prepared  for  it,  they  are  requested  to  pray  daily  in 
their  schools." 

It  is  our  privilege  to  make  the  like  record  concerning  the 
CHOCTAWS.  Of  their  title  to  the  Christian  name  we  have 
the  high  testimony  of  the  pioneer  in  both  the  Choctaw  and 
Cherokee  missions  —  the  Rev.  Cyrus  Kingsbury,  D.  D.,  already 
mentioned.  Writing  from  Pine  Ridge,  in  the  Choctaw  nation, 
March  11,  1861,  in  reply  to  inquiries,  Dr.  Kingsbury  says, — 

"  I  unhesitatingly  answer,  that  the  Choctaws  are  a  Christian 
nation,  in  the  popular  acceptance  of  that  term. 

"  1.  There  is  no  other  religion  known  among  this  people 
but  the  Christian  religion.  All  who  make  any  pretensions  to 
religion  receive  the  Christian  Scriptures,  as  containing  those 
doctrines  which  they  are  to  believe  and  those  duties  which 
they  are  to  practice. 

"  2.  As  large  a  proportion  of  the  Choctaws,  it  is  believed, 
are  professors  of  the  Christian  religion  as  are  to  be  found  in 
any  other  portion  of  our  country.  The  numbers  connected 
with  the  different  churches  I  am  not  able  to  give ;  probably 
it  amounts  to  between  one  fifth  and  one  fourth  of  the  whole 
population.  A  large  proportion  of  those  who  are  not  members 
of  the  churches  are  believers  in  the  Christian  Scriptures,  in 
the  popular  acceptation  of  that  phrase. 

"  3.  In  the  transaction  of  all  public  business,  the  Christian 
Sabbath  is  observed  as  a  divine  institution  ;  no  public  business 
is  transacted  on  that  consecrated  day. 

"  4.  The  sessions  of  the  General  Council  are,  I  believe,  uni- 
formly opened  and  closed  with  prayer. 

"  5.  All  public  officers  and  jurymen  are  required  to  take 
the  oath  usually  administered  in  the  United  States,  and  in  the 
usual  form. 

"  6.  No  man  is  considered  competent  to  be  a  witness  who 
denies  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being. 

"  The  progress  of  the  Choctaws  in  agriculture  and  general 
improvement,"  Dr.  Kingsbury  adds,  "  has  suffered  much  from 


260  THE  MISSIONS. 

the  want  of  that  necessary  stimulus,  a  good  market.  This, 
together  with  their  natural  indolence,  has  kept  the  larger 
portion  of  the  nation  in  very  humble  circumstances.  For  the 
last  three  or  four  years  there  have  been  short  crops,  and  in 
the  past  year  almost  an  entire  failure.  This  has  greatly  re- 
duced their  means  of  support,  and  put  it  out  of  the  power  of 
most  of  our  church  members  to  do  more  than  to  provide  for 
their 'own  most  pressing  wants.  And,  indeed,  this  could  not 
have  been  done  without  very  considerable  aid  from  abroad. 

"  In  the  peculiar  and  trying  circumstances,"  he  continues, 
"  in  which  the  Choctaws  have  been,  and  still  are,  placed,  they 
have  felt  the  necessity  of  reliable,  intelligent  men,  to  give 
influence  and  direction  to  their  public  councils.  This  has  led 
the  Choctaws  to  press  into  the  service  of  the  nation  all  our 
[native]  ordained,  and  most  of  our  licensed,  preachers.  This 
has  had  a  tendency  to  divert  the  preachers  more  or  less  from 
the  great  work  of  the  gospel  ministry.  Party  feelings  having 
been  strong,  they  have,  as  a  thing  in  course,  lost  influence 
with  those  on  the  opposite  side.  The  necessity  there  has  been 
for  intelligence  and  integrity  in  the  public  service  of  the  nation, 
and  the  better  remuneration  for  those  services,  have  proba- 
bly induced  some  to  turn  attention  to  those  pursuits,  who 
otherwise  might  have  entered  the  ministry.  These  and  other 
circumstances  have  much  retarded  our  progress  in  bringing 
forward  a  native  ministry." 

The  Board  began  its  labors  among  this  people  as  early  as 
1818,  and  prosecuted  them  forty  years,  receiving  into  the 
church  of  Christ  during  that  time,  and  mainly  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  period,  some  twenty-seven  hundred  members.  It 
found  the  Choctaws  a  nation  of  pagans ;  it  left  them  as  really 
a  Christian  nation,  in  the  year  1859,  as  can  be  truthfully 
affirmed  of  the  other  nations  of  Christendom.  The  appro- 
priate work  of  the  Board,  under  its  charter  as  a  foreign  mis- 
sionary institution,  had  then  been  accomplished.  The  twelve 
churches  connected  with  it,  containing  thirteen  hundred  and 
sixty-two  members,  had  long  been  in  connection  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  (old  school ;)  and,  upon  the  withdrawal 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WORK.  261 

of  the  Board,  it  was  a  thing  of  course  for  that  body  to  assume 
the  responsibility  of  rendering  the  aid  that  might  yet  be  need- 
ful for  sustaining  the  gospel  institutions  among  that  Christian- 
ized people,  upon  the  home  missionary  or  some  other  plan. 
There  are  now  fifteen  hundred  church  members,  who  were  all 
admitted  upon  the  strict  principle,  and  chiefly  by  missionaries 
in  connection  with  the  American  Board. 

The  TUSCARORAS,  a  remnant  of  one  of  the  "  Six  Nations  " 
of  Indians,  are  a  Christian  people.  For  nearly  sixty  years, 
indeed,  they  have  enjoyed  the  fostering  care  of  different  mis- 
sionary organizations.  The  New  York  Missionary  Society 
directed  its  attention  to  these  Indians  early  in  the  present 
century.  A  church  of  eight  members  was  organized  prior  to 
1813.  On  tl\<2  3d  of  July,  1826,  the  mission  was  transferred 
to  the  Board.  These  people  appear  to  have  been  Christianized 
long  ago ;  for  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  which 
received  them  from  the  New  York  Society,  made  the  following 
statement  concerning  them,  in  the  year  1821 :  "  The  whole 
nation,  now  residing  at  Tuscarora,  have  taken  a  decided  stand 
in  favor  of  the  Christian  religion.  They  have  already  made 
considerable  progress  in  acquiring  the  arts  and  habits  of  civilized 
life.  Having  in  a  great  measure  abandoned  the  chase  as  the 
means  of  subsistence,  they  now  depend  for  their  support  prin- 
cipally upon  the  produce  of  the  soil.  They  occupy  comforta- 
ble dwellings ;  and  in  passing  through  their  villages,  you 
behold  wagons,  plows,  and  other  implements  of  husbandry, 
arranged  around  their  doors.  Some  of  their  youth  have  made 
considerable  proficiency  in  the  elementary  branches  of  an 
English  education." 

That  the  Tuscarora  people  should  have  been  continued 
under  the  pupilage  of  a  foreign  missionary  institution  for  forty 
years  after  such  a  testimony,  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact, 
that  the  proper  responsibilities  of  such  institutions  had  not  a 
clear  definition  in  the  public  mind.  The  Prudential  Committee 
declared  to  the  Board  their  belief,  in  1860,  that  such  a  people 
were  not  the  proper  objects  of  a  foreign  mission  ;  that  they 


262  THE  MISSIONS. 

had  the  ability  to  sustain  in  great  measure  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel ;  and  that  some  home  missionary  organization 
would  be  ready  to  meet  any  reasonable  deficiency. 

It  is  by  finishing  the  work  at  STATIONS,  in  the  influential 
centers  of  population,  that  missions  are  to  be  brought  to  a 
successful  close.  Such  a  result  at  a  station  implies  indeed  a 
great  deal,  as  all,  who  are  practically  conversant  with  mis- 
sions, know  full  well.  It  implies  not  only  the  greater  light  of 
the  central  church  at  the  station,  but  also  lesser  lights  in 
adjacent  villages.  In  an  extended  territory,  there  may  be 
many  a  dark  intervening  space  between  these  constellations, 
—  as  there  was  in  the  Roman  empire  for  ages  after  history 
recognizes  it  as  Christian ;  and  it  may  even  be  desirable  for 
missionary  societies  to  leave  these  dark  spaces-efor  the  native 
churches  to  illuminate  with  the  gospel,  and  thus  to  exercise 
and  strengthen  their  graces. 

The  progress  yet  made  by  the  Board  in  establishing  the 
institutions  of  the  gospel  in  other  countries  than  those  just 
named,  admits  of  only  a  brief  illustration. 

One  of  the  first  stations  occupied  by  the  mission  to  the 
Armenians  of  the  Turkish  empire,  was  at  Pera,  the  portion  of 
Constantinople  where  the  missionaries  first  had  their  residence. 
Pera  has  now  a  self-supporting  church,  composed  of  evangel- 
ical Armenians,  with  a  native  pastor  —  the  whole  independent 
of  the  missionaries,  who  reside  elsewhere.  The  pastor  of  this 
church,  Mr.  Eutujian,  attended  the  Jubilee  Meeting,  and  made 
an  address  in  the  Armenian  language,  which  was  interpreted 
by  Dr.  Hamlin.  Difficulties  have  indeed  arisen  in  this  church, 
perhaps  as  a  consequence  of  this  very  independence,  just  as 
they  arose  in  the  churches  at  Corinth  and  Galatia ;  and  such 
are  of  course  to  be  expected. 

At  Aintab,  in  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor,  the  regions  of 
Cilicia,  where  a  station  was  commenced  in  1848,  there  is  now 
a  self-supporting  church  of  near  three  hundred  members,  with 
a  native  pastor,  a  Sabbath  congregation  of  nine  hundred,  and 
schools  of  six  hundred  youths  and  almost  four  hundred  adults, 
and  a  Sabbath  school  of  sixteen  hundred  members. 


PROGRESS  OP  THE  WORK.  263 

At  Brusa,  near  Mount  Olympus,  in  the  ancient  Bithynia, 
two  missionaries  were  residing  in  1844.  The  last  of  these 
was  removed  in  1852,  and  a  native  pastor  took  charge  of  the 
church.  Nothing  more  has  since  been  needed  there,  except 
an  occasional  missionary  visit,  and  some  pecuniary  aid. 

Trebizond,  on  the  south-western  shore  of  the  Black  Sea, 
had  two  missionaries,  and  afterward  one ;  but  since  1857  it 
has  had  none :  the  whole  being  left,  as  at  Brusa,  to  the  native 
church  and  pastor,  with  some  pecuniary  aid  and  spiritual  care. 
From  the  nature  of  the  case,  like  the  churches  of  Macedonia, 
most  mission  churches  are,  for  a  time,  in  "  deep  poverty." 

The  station  at  Marash,  fifty  or  sixty  miles  from  Aintab, 
dating  only  from  the  year  1854,  has  a  church  of  two  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  members,  a  congregation  of  near  a  thousand, 
a  numerous  Sabbath  school,  and  a  native  pastor.* 

*  Dr.  H.  G.  O.  Dwight,  from  Constantinople,  visited  Aintab  and  Marash  in 
the  spring  of  1861.  He  arrived  at  the  former  place  on  Saturday.  "The  next 
day  was  the  Sabbath,"  he  writes,  "  and  it  was  to  me  a  most  delightful  day.  I 
had  the  privilege  of  preaching  to  more  than  a  thousand  people,  and  of  address- 
ing a  Sabbath  school,  all  assembled  in  one  room,  of  sixteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight  members,  including  the  teachers.  In  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  I 
attended  the  monthly  concert,  at  which  probably  seven  hundred  were  present." 

Speaking  of  Marash,  he  says,  "  This  place  is  indeed  a  wonder.  Twelve  years 
ago,  there  was  not  a  Protestant  here,  and  the  people  were  proverbially  ignorant, 
barbarous,  and  fanatical.  Six  years  ago,  the  Evangelical  Armenian  Church 
was  organized,  with  sixteen  members.  The  congregation  at  that  time  consisted 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty.- 

"On  the  last  Sabbath,  I  preached  in  the  morning  to  a  congregation  of  over 
a  thousand ;  and  in  the  afternoon,  at  the  communion,  I  addressed  nearly  or 
quite  fifteen  hundred  people,  when  forty  new  members  were  admitted  to  the 
church,  making  the  whole  present  number  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven. 
Nearly  one  hundred  of  these  have  been  added  since  Mr.  White  came  here,  two 
years  ago.  Previous  to  the  late  communion,  one  hundred  and  sixteen  persons 
were  examined,  but  only  forty  were  admitted  to  the  church.  It  is  confidently 
believed  by  our  brethren  that  many  of  those  who  were  told  to  wait  are  truly 
converted  persons ;  but,  as  the  cases  are  recent,  prudence  seemed  to  dictate  that 
they  should  be  put  on  a  longer  trial.  One  entire  half  of  the  body  of  the  church 
was  filled  with  females,  packed  closely  together  on  the  floor.  The  other  half, 
and  the  broad  galleries  around  three  sides  of  the  house,  were  completely 
crowded  with  men.  A  new  church,  in  the  other  end  of  the  town,  is  needed 
immediately." 


264  THE  MISSIONS. 

The  cases  thus  far  instanced  are  among  the  benighted,  but 
still  nominally  Christian,  people  of  "Western  Asia,  and  the 
tendency  is  more  or  less  strongly  to  similar  results  at  the 
thirty  other  stations,  and  even  at  very  many  of  the  hundred 
outstations  belonging  to  the  several  missions  in  that  great  and 
interesting  field. 

When  we  speak  of  a  Christianized  station,  however,  we 
ought  not  to  be  understood  as  implying  all  that  is  meant 
when  speaking  of  a  Christianized  people.  At  neither  of  the 
places  named  above  has  evangelical  Christianity  yet  become 
the  predominant  religion  among  the  people.  "We  mean  only 
that  the  Christian  church  has  acquired  an  actual,  influential 
footing  there,  somewhat  analogous  to  that  of  churches  in  the 
young  cities  and  towns  of  our  new  western  settlements. 

This  is  more  or  less  true  at  many  of  the  local  stations  in 
the  missions  among  pagan  nations.  The  church  at  Chavaga- 
cherry,  in  Ceylon,  where  a  missionary  once  resided,  is  now 
consigned,  together  with  its  district,  to  a  native  pastor,  and 
the  same  is  true  of  the  churches  and  districts  of  Karadive  and 
Valaney ;  and  none  of  the  other  native  churches  are  more 
flourishing  than  these.  The  church  at  Bombay — the  first 
gathered  by  missionaries  of  the  Board  —  has  now  a  native 
pastor,  though  he  is  not  supported  by  the  church  ;  so  have  the 
first  and  second  churches  in  Ahmednuggur;  so  has  the  church 
at  Seroor.  These  are  all  churches  at  stations,  and  the  pastoral 
relation  has  been  well  sustained.  The  Madura  mission  has 
native  pastors  for  six  of  its  twenty-eight  churches,  and  one  of 
these  is  a  station  church. 

The  opinions  of  the  executive  officers  of  the  Board,  and  of 
the  Prudential  Committee,  have  inclined  toward  the  ordain- 
ing of  native  pastors  at  all  the  station  churches,  as  fast  as  the 
suitable  men  can  be  found  ;  but,  excepting  the  Mahratta  mis- 
sion, it  can  hardly  be  said  that  the  missions  of  the  Board  in 
pagan  nations  are  yet  prepared  to  come  fully  into  the  practice. 
It  seems  to  be  gaining  ground  in  the  missions  of  Western  Asia ; 
and,  as  far  as  is  known,  the  experiment  there  has  been  gener- 
ally successful. 


PKOGRESS   OP   THE   WORK.  265 

It  has  been  found  hard  to  overcome  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  raising  up  self-sustaining  churches,  whether  at  stations 
or  outstations,  whether  in  nominally  Christian  or  pagan  lands. 
These  difficulties  are  so  various  as  to  allow  of  only  the  most 
comprehensive  notice,  if  indeed  the  time  has  come  for  treat- 
ing the  subject  very  positively. 

Preaching,  congregations,  churches,  schools,  native  helpers, 
every  thing,  of  course  centers  at  first  at  the  station,  cluster- 
ing around  the  resident  missionary.  But  there  is  danger  of 
continuing  the  centralizing  policy  too  long,  and  it  is  believed 
that  this  has  frequently  been  done.  This  tendency  in  the 
working  of  missions  is  natural  and  strong,  both  in  the  mis- 
sionary and  his  converts,  as  was  singularly  manifested,  a  few 
years  since,  in  one  of  the  India  missions.  The  ground 
inclosed  around  the  mission  house  is  there  called  a  "  com- 
pound," and  being  of  some  extent,  and  vested  with  certain 
privileges,  it  had  an  attractive  power  on  the  minds  of  village 
converts  throughout  the  region.  These  converts,  being  chiefly 
from  a  caste  not  attached  to  the  soil  as  cultivators,  were  able 
to  leave  their  villages,  and  many  were  drawn,  with  their  fam- 
ilies, to  the  mission  compounds  at  the  central  stations,  thus 
forming  small  Christian  villages,  built  up,  and  in  part  sus- 
tained, by  the  Board,  and  invested,  to  some  extent,  with  Euro- 
pean protection  and  privilege.  It  was  thus  an  asylum  for  the 
poor,  oppressed  converts.  But  though  it  brought  them  around 
the  missionary,  where,  besides  being  easily  cared  for,  they 
made  up  a  numerous  station  church,  its  nature  as  an  asylum 
fostered  the  feeling  of  dependence  in  the  native  mind,  gave  to 
the  centers  an  appearance  of  prosperity  and  strength  which 
they  had  not  in  fact,  and  discouraged  the  forming  of  rural 
stations  and  churches,  and  the  extension  of  the  mission. 
Self-sustaining  native  Christian  churches  could  not  thus  be 
formed,  and  the  villages  might  be  as  long  in  coming  to  the 
Christian  light,  as  in  the  Roman  empire  of  the  first  Christian 
centuries.  The  thing  had  grown  up  insensibly,  and  upon 
discovering  the  evil,  it  was  speedily  corrected.  The  villagers 
were  generally  sent  home,  village  stations  and  village  churches 
34 


I 

266  THE  MISSIONS. 

were  formed,  and  dispersion  and  diffusion  became  the  order 
of  the  day. 

The  natural  reluctance  of  missionary  brethren  to  diminish 
the  number  of  members  in  the  station  churches  by  forming 
churches  in  the  villages,  and  the  number  of  hearers  at  the 
station  by  forming  congregations  in  the  villages,  and  the  array 
of  Christian  life  about  them  by  pushing  it  off  to  the  outposts, 
will  be  understood  and  appreciated  by  pastors.  It  is  an  evil 
hard  to  overcome,  seeing  that  the  missionary's  family  state 
obliges  him  to  have  a  fixed  habitation,  where  he  must  needs 
be  much  at  home.* 

*  The  Rev.  Henry  Ballantine  thus  refers  to  this  change  of  missionary  policy, 
writing  from  Ahmednuggur,  February  7,  1861 :  — 

"A  glance  at  the  following  table,  showing  the  gradual  increase  in  the  number 
of  members  of  the  churches  belonging  to  the  mission  since  its  establishment  in 
1831,  is  instructive  and  encouraging.     The  whole  period  has  been  divided  into 
terms  of  five  years,  that  the  progress  of  the  mission  may  be  more  easily  seen. 
.    Members  received  from  1831  to  1835,  inclusive,     ...       9 
"  "          "     1836  to  1840,         «  ...       7 

"  "  "     1841  to  1845,         «  ...     75 

"  "  "     1846  to  1850,         "  ...     63 

"  "          "     1851  to  1855,         «       "...     78 

"  "          "     1856  to  1860,         "  ...  363 

Total, 595 

"  The  members  received  into  the  churches  during  the  last  five  years  are  as 
follows :  In  1856,  30 ;  1857,  56  ;  1858,  86  ;  1$59,  64  ;  1860,  127  :  total,  363. 

"  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  average  for  each  term  of  five  years  from 
1840  to  1855  was  just  72,  exactly  nine  times  the  average  of  the  first  two  terms 
of  five  years ;  while  the  number  received  during  the  last  term  of  five  years  was 
five  times  as  great  as  the  average  for  five  years  from  1840  to  1855,  and  forty- 
five  times  as  great  as. the  average  for  five  years  from  1831  to  1840.  Again,  it 
appears  that  the  number  received  during  each  year  of  the  last  five  years  was, 
on  an  average,  72  —  the  same  as  the  average  number  received  during  each  period 
of  five  years  from  1841  to  1855. 

"  Should  it  be  asked  how  the  sudden  increase  in  the  number  of  converts  in 
the  last  term  of  five  years  can  be  accounted  for,  I  would  say,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  new  policy  inaugurated  in  the  mission  in  1855,  putting  missionaries  out 
in  the  districts  to  labor  among  the  people,  has  been  the  means,  in  the  hands  of 
God,  of  greatly  extending  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  of  bringing  many 
more  converts  into  our  churches.  Some  members  of  the  mission  desired  to  see 
this  policy  pursued  ten  years  before  it  was  adopted ;  but  at  length  the  Deputa- 
tion, coming  to  India  in  1854,  decided  the  matter  which  had  been  discussed  in 
the  mission  so  long,  and  the  plan  was  at  once  put  in  execution." 


PEOGRESS   OF  THE   WORK.  267 

No  doubt  the  delays  consequent  upon  this  slow  development 
of  the  lessons  of  experience,  have  greatly  enhanced  the  obsta- 
cles to  self-sustaining  church  organizations  in  the  fields  occu- 
pied by  the  Board.  There  is  a  time  for  all  things.  As,  in  del- 
icate processes  of  crystallization,  complete  success  depends  on 
allowing  the  crystals  to  form  at  the  right  time,  so,  in  missions, 
there  is  a  time  for  reversing  the  centralizing  policy,  when  the 
native  elements  will  crystallize  most  perfectly  under  their  own 
proper  laws  of  social  life,  and  not  under  those  of  the  foreign 
countries  from  whence  the  missionaries  came.  In  some  such 
manner,  converts  have  too  often  been  disqualified  in  a  measure 
for  a  patient  attendance  on  the  ministry  of  even  the  best  edu- 
cated native  preachers,  and  the  native  preachers  have  thus 
been  disqualified  for  living  on  the  proper  native  salary,  if  they 
have  not  been  also  for  the  retirement  and  obscurity  of  rural 
life.  The  secular  education  of  adults,  though  exceedingly 
below  the  common  standard  in  old  Christian  countries,  has 
still  been  too  much  in  advance  of  the  religious ;  and  our  native 
preachers  have  been  educated  more  for  the  demands  of  the 
future,  than  for  those  of  churches  in  their  earliest  possible 
existence ;  while  both  churches  and  pastors  were,  and  must 
needs  be,  in  leading-strings  held  by  the  missionaries.  The 
opinion  is  now  becoming  general  in  the  missions  of  the  Board, 
that  the  study  of  the  English  language,  except  in  special  in- 
stances, has  not  facilitated  the  rearing  up  of  self-relying  native 
churches.  It  was  at  least  premature.  Perhaps,  too,  there  has 
been  a  higher  standard  than  was  expedient  for  the  mere  intel- 
lectual culture  of  native  preachers  and  pastors,  in  the  first 
generation. 


268  THE  MISSIONS. 


HISTORICAL  CATALOGUE  OF  THE  MISSIONS. 

The  following    missions    are  now,   or  have  been,   connected  with  the 
Board :  — 

1.  Mahratta  Mission,  in  Western  India ;  instituted  in  1813 ;  in  two  mis- 
sions from  1842  to  1852;  in  four,  from  1852  to  1858;  one  discontinued, 
1858;  the  three  others  reunited  in  one,  1860. 

2.  Ceylon  Mission,  1816. 

3.  Cherokee,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  1816 ;  discontinued,  1860. 

4.  Choctaws,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  1818 ;  discontinued,  1859. 

5.  Sandwich  Islands,  1820 ;  discontinued  on  the  foreign  missionary  basis, 
and  continued  on  the  home  missionary  basis,  1853. 

<  6.   Palestine,  1821 ;  merged  in  the  Syria  mission,  1845. 

7.   Malta,  1822,  —  for  the  press,  which  was  removed  to  Smyrna  in  1833. 
<     8.    Syria,  1823. 

9.    South  America,  (exploring,)  1823-1826. 

t      10.    Turkey,  1826  ;  North  and  South,  1856-1860  ;  Western,  Eastern,  and 
Central,  1860. 

11.  Osages,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  commenced  by  United  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  1820 ;  transferred  to  the  Board,  1826 ;  discontinued,  1837. 

12.  Maumee,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  commenced  by  Western  Missionary  So- 
ciety, 1822  ;  transferred  to  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  1822,  and  to 
the  Board,  1826  ;  discontinued,  1835. 

13.  New   York  Indians,  commenced  by  Xew  York  Missionary  Society, 
1801 ;  transferred  to  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  1821,  and  to  the 
Board,  1826  ;  Tuscarora  Branch  discontinued,  1860. 

14.  Mackinaw,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  commenced  by  the  United  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society,  1823  ;  transferred  to  the  Board,  1826  ;  discontinued,  1836. 

15.  Chickasaws,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  commenced  by  Synod  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia,  1821  ;  transferred  to  the  Board,  1827  ;  discontinued,  1835. 

16.  Stockbridge  Indians,  1828  ;  discontinued,  1848.       , 

17.  Greece,  1830;  discontinued,  except  the  station  at  Athens,  1841. 

18.  China,  1830  ;  —  at  Canton,  1830  ;   at  Amoy,  1842,   transferred  to 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  1858  ;  at  Fuk~ 
chau,  1847;  at  Shanghai,  1853;  at  Tientsin,  1860. 

19.  Ojibwas,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  1830. 

20.  Siam,  1831 ;  missionaries  in  part  transferred  to  Fuhchau,  1847 ;  dis- 
continued, 1850. 

21.  Creeks,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  1832  ;  discontinued,  1837. 

22.  Sumatra,  (exploring,)  1833. 

23.  Patagonia,  (exploring,)  1833  and  1834. 

24.  Madura,  1834. 

25.  Nestorians,  1834. 


PROGRESS  OP  THE  WORK.  269 

26.  Singapore,  1834  ;  discontinued,  1843. 

27.  Pawnees,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  1834 ;  discontinued,  1844. 

28.  Siouxt  or  Ddkotas,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  1834. 

29.  Western  Africa,  at  Cape  Palmas,  1834-1843 ;  removed  to  the  Ga- 
boon, 1843. 

30.  Cyprus,  1834  ;  discontinued,  1840. 

31.  Oregon,  1835  ;  broken  up  by  the  massacre  of  1847. 

32.  Southern  Africa,  1835 ;  —  one  mission  at  Mosika,  1836,  broken  up 
by  war,  1837  ;  the  other  at  Port  Natal,  1836. 

33.  Abenaquis,  (N.  A.  Indians,)  1835 ;  discontinued,  1858. 

34.  Madras,  1836. 

35.  Borneo,  (exploring,)  1836  and  1837. 

36.  Persian  Mohammedans,  1838  ;  discontinued,  1841. 

37.  Borneo,  1838  ;  in  part  transferred  to  Amoy,  in  China,  1844  ;  discon- 
tinued, 1852.    , 

38.  To  the  Jews  in  Turkey,  1844 ;  discontinued,  1856. 

39.  Arcot,  in  India,  1851 ;  transferred  to  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of 
the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  1857, 

40.  Micronesia,  in  the  N.  Pacific  Ocean,  1852. 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE    MISSIONARIES. 

The  Missionary  described.  —  The  Principle  underlyipg  his  Engagement.  —  Makes  the 
First  Advance.  —  Appointment,  Designation,  and  Support.  —  Age,  Constitution, 
Habits. —  Ordination.  —  Marriage.  —  The  Number  of  Missionaries. —  Whence  they 
came.  —  Education.  —  Length  of  Service.  —  Protective  Care  of  Providence.  —  Mis- 
sionary Physicians —  Unmarried  Females.  —  Farmers  and  Mechanics.  —  Salaries.  — • 
Disabled  Missionaries.  —  Children  of  Missionaries.  —  Schools,  Asylums,  Permanent 
Funds.  —  The  Present  System  found  to  work  well. 

A  MISSIONARY  is  described  in  the  by-laws  of  the  Board,  as 
one  who  has  been  ordained  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  has 
actually  come  under  its  direction.  All  others  —  licensed 
preachers,  physicians,  schoolmasters,  printers,  etc.  —  are  as- 
sistant missionaries ;  but,  in  the  reports  of  the  Board,  they 
are  to  be  designated  by  their  specific  occupations. 

Underlying  the  theory  of  missions,  as  prosecuted  by  the 
American  Board,  is  the  principle  that  the  missionary  goes  forth 
in  the  discharge  of  his  own  personal  responsibility  to  Christ. 
The  Board,  the  churches,  are  helpers,  co-workers  in  his 
mission.  There  is  an  implied  covenant,  and  he  is  one  of  the 
parties.  The  enlistment  is  voluntary ;  and  so  are  the  contribu- 
tions of  the  donor.  Both  are  alike  servants  of  Christ.  Chris- 
tians at  home  are  indebted  to  the  missionary  only  as  the  mis- 
sionary is  to  them.  The  missionary  is  doing  their  work  no 
more  than  they  are  doing  his.  The  Board  declared  this  prin- 
ciple many  years  ago,  as  best  comporting  with  the  happiest 
and  most  successful  prosecution  of  missions,  during  a  pro- 
longed period,  and  on  an  extended  scale. 

The  missionary  candidate  has  therefore  been  expected  to 
make  the  first  advance,  and  to  offer  himself  for  the  service. 
The  Secretaries,  when  visiting  theological  seminaries,  have  been 

(270) 


THE  MISSIONAKIES.  271 

accustomed  to  inquire  for  the  students  whose  minds  were 
known  to  be  exercised  on  this  subject,  and  to  confer  with  such. 
It  has  devolved  on  the  Prudential  Committee,  when  the  candi- 
date presented  himself,  to  be  satisfied  as  to  the  reality  of  his  call 
of  God  to  the  work  of  missions.  That  was  to  be  determined 
by  the  proper  evidence,  and  on  the  presumption  that  whom  the 
Lord  calls  to  this  work  he  will  endow  with  the  requisite  phys- 
ical, mental,  and  spiritual  abilities,  and  allow  no  insuperable 
providential  barriers  to  stand  in  the  way.  The  engagement  is 
not  for  a  specified  term  of  years,  but  for  life,  "  if  the  Lord 
will." 

The  appointment  and  the  designation  of  missionaries  are 
not  always  decided  at  the  same  time.  By  accepting  an 
appointment,  the  missionary  accepts  also  the  rules  and  regula- 
tions of  the  Board,  the  nature  of  which  he  is  supposed  to 
understand.  The  Board  pays  no  expenses  of  missionary  can- 
didates in  their  preparation  for  the  ministry,  and  no  debts  con- 
tracted after  appointment,  unless  expressly  authorized ;  nor 
does  it  assume  the  expenses  of  appointed  missionaries  before 
the  time  arrives  to  prepare  for  their  departure.  On  the  prin- 
ciple stated  at  the  opening  of  this  chapter,  the  missionary's 
claim  upon  the  Board  for  support,  when  in  the  field,  has  al- 
ways been  understood  as  for  no  more  than  an  equitable  pro- 
portion of  the  funds  placed  at  its  disposal ;  the  Board  being 
able  to  divide  only  what  it  receives.  Missionaries  have  gone 
forth  trusting  in  God  that  there  will  always  be  enough  for 
their  wants,  incurring  whatever  risk  there  may  be  ;  which  past 
experience  shows  to  be  very  small,  since  no  missionary  of  the 
Board  has  ever  yet  been  compelled  to  retire  from  the  field  or 
to  remain  at  home  for  want  of  funds. 

The  reply  made  by  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the  three 
Tamil  missions,  in  1839,  to  an  inquiry  as  to  the  age,  constitu- 
tion, and  habits  most  suitable  for  a  missionary  to  India,  has 
been  found  applicable  to  the  missions  generally.  It  was  this : 
"  A  missionary  to  an  old  mission  should  be  young,  that  he  may 
easily  get  the  language,  and  that  his  habits  may  more  easily 
be  shaped  to  the  climate.  If  he  goes  to  form  a  new  mission, 


272  THE  MISSIONS. 

more  age  may  be  an  advantage ;  but  generally  a  missionary 
should  not  be  above  thirty,  where  he  is  expected  to  acquire 
the  language,  unless  he  have  a  peculiar  turn  for  it.  As  to 
habits,  they  should  be  rather  active  than  sedentary,  but  he 
should  be  capable  of  study ;  if  not  learned,  he  should  be  able 
to  learn,  and  ready  to  teach.  His  constitution  should  be  good, 
but  the  most  sanguine  and  robust  need  not  expect  the  best 
health.  There  may  be  a  proper  distinction  between  pliancy 
of  constitution  and  weakness.  A  bilious  habit  is  undesirable, 
but  too  much  may  be  feared  from  it,  as  too  much  may  be 
hoped  in  favor  of  pulmonary  tendencies ;  though  the  climate 
is  friendly  to  the  latter,  and  unfriendly  to  the  former.  The 
advice  of  a  skillful  and  candid  physician  should  have  much 
weight."  The  average  of  the  ages  of  seventy-five  ordained 
missionaries  at  the  time  of  their  appointment  since  the  year 
1851,  is  twenty-seven  years. 

For  a  number  of  the  first  years,  the  Prudential  Committee 
was  accustomed  to  invite  the  ordaining  council  for  the  mis- 
sionary, (if  he  belonged  to  the  Congregational  body;)  and  when 
the  ordination  was  over,  they  passed  votes  of  thanks  to  those 
who  had  performed  the  services.  But  for  a  long  time  past,  the 
missionary  has  been  left,  after  receiving  official  notice  of  his 
appointment,  to  arrange  for  his  ordination  with  his  friends,  or 
his  church,  or  some  other  ecclesiastical  body.  Where  the  judg- 
ments and  hearts  of  the  people  have  been  with  the  candidates, 
the  ordination  services  have  proved  a  blessing.  Hence  the 
missionary  is  usually  advised  to  seek  ordination  among  his 
own  people. 

The  experience  of  the  Board  favors  the  marriage  of  mission- 
aries, as  a  general  rule,  and  always  when  they  are  going  to  a 
barbarous  people.  "Wives  are  a  protection  among  savages,  and 
men  can  not  there  long  make  a  tolerable  home  without  them. 
When  well  selected  in  respect  to  health,  education,  and  piety, 
wives  endure  "  hardness  "  quite  as  well  as  their  husbands,  and 
sometimes  with  more  faith  and  patience. 

The  number  of  missionaries  and  assistant  missionaries  sent 
forth  from  the  beginning,  is  indicated  in  the  following  table:  — 


THE  MISSIONARIES. 


273 


MISSIONS. 

Ordained. 

Phys'ns  vho 
haa  received 
Ordination. 

Phys'ns  not 
Ordained. 

Male  Assist- 
ant Mission- 
aril's. 

Female  As- 
sistant Mis- 
sionaries. 

Total. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  and  Mr.  Rice, 

2 

16 
21 
3 
62 
27 
6 
19 
28 
24 
24 
5 
3 
10 
4 
8 
2 
7 
4 
3 
7 
46 
7 
2 
18 
16 
9 
4 
4 
.      1 
5 
1 
3 
1 
2 
1 
9 
1 

1 
2 
0 
4 
1 
1 
1 
0 
2 
0 
2 
0 
2 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
1 
0 
3 
2 
0 
1 
1 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

1 

0 
0 

1 

2 
2 
2 
0 
1 
2 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 

1 

0 
0 
0 
6 
0 
0 
1 
2 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

1 
1 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

1 
1 
0 
2 
1 
0 
1 
4 
1 
0 
1 
0 

1 

0 
0 
0 
0 

1 

0 
0 
21 
0 
0 
34 
26 
3 
7 
0 
0 
6 
2 
2 
7 
2 
1 
3 
0 

1 
18 
23 
3 
73 
36 
9 
26 
39 
30 
30 
9 
4 
9 
5 
11 
1 
9 
4 
3 
6 
80 
7 
0 
90 
66 
15 
14 
6 
1 
15 
4 
5 
9 
4 
4 
22 
0 

3 
36 
45 
6 
138 
66 
17 
48 
71 
56 
56 
15 
7 
21 
9 
19 
3 
17 
9 
6 
13 
153 
14 
2 
143 
110 
27 
25 
10 
2 
26 
8 
11 
17 
8 
6 
34 
1 

Syria,  including  Cyprus,       .... 

Total,     

415 

26 

24 

128 

691 

1258 

GENERAL  SUMMARY. 

MISSIONS. 

i! 

ii 

51 

i 

a  a 

fa 

£."2 

3 
1 

"s 

i 

t 
"3 

M 

Total. 

37 
117 
28 
56 
45 
53 
2 
75 
2 

1 

7 
0 
3 
2 
6 

5 

43 
151 
43 
75 
50 
108 

348 
1 

40 
128 
32 
61 
49 
80 
2 
173 
2 

41 
147 
39 
73 
48 
87 
0 
255 
1 

81 
275 
71 
134 
97 
167 
2 
428 
3 

"W.  Asia,  European  Turkey,  Greece, 

Southern  India  and  Ceylon,     .     .     . 
Eastern  Asia  and  the  Islands,      .     . 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  and  Mr.  Rice, 
Total,    

415 

24 

819 

567 

691 

1258 

35 


274 


THE  MISSIONS. 


It  thus  appears,  that  the  five  ordained  missionaries  sent  forth 
into  the  heathen  world  in  the  year  1812,  have  been  followed 
by  others  to  the  number  of  four  hundred  and  ten.  The  eight 
males  and  females,  composing  the  first  company,  now  stand 
associated,  on  the  historic  page,  in  a  company  of  twelve  hun- 
dred and  fifty-eight. 

Whence  came  these  missionaries  ?  It  would  cost  too  much 
labor  to  ascertain  the  colleges  where  the  greater  part  of  the 
ordained  missionaries  were  graduated.  The  seminaries  in 
which  they  obtained  their  theological  education,  so  far  as  their 
history  is  known,  may  be  chronologically  arranged  in  the  fol- 
lowing order :  The  first  class  at  the  Andover  Seminary  com- 
pleted its  course  in  the  year  1809  ;  at  Princeton,  in  1812 ;  at 
Bangor,  in  1820 ;  at  Auburn,  in  1825 ;  at  New  Haven,  in 
1826  ;  at  the  Western  Reserve,  in  1832 ;  at  Lane,  in  1833  ;  at 
East  Windsor,  in  1836  ;  at  Union,  in  1838.  The  number  of 
the  missionaries  derived  from  each  of  these  institutions  is 
indicated  in  the  following  table :  — 


SEMINARIES. 

Whole 
number. 

Now  in 
the  field. 

SEMINARIES. 

Whole 
number. 

Now  in 

the  Held. 

130 
15 
13 
20 
41 
28 
31 

eater  p 
ogical 
sions  1 

66 
10 
6 
4 
29 
9 
7 

art  su] 
semin 
oNort 

New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  .  .  . 
Western  Reserve,  Ohio,   .  . 
.Lane,  Ohio,  

14 
9 
16 
2 

7 
2 

5 
6 
7 
1 
1 
0 

East  Windsor,  Conn.,   .  .  . 
New  Haven,  Conn.,.  .... 

Union,  New  York  City,  .  .  . 

Union,  Va.,  

Southern,  S  C  

Total  from  Seminaries,  .  . 
>posed  not  to  have  been  con- 
iries,  —  the  larger  portion  of 

Unknown,  but  the  gr 
nected  with  theo 
these  being  in  lait 

328 
87 

151 
15 

Grand  total,  

415 

166 

It  will  be  seen,  that  nearly  all  the  missionaries  who  went  to 
countries  beyond  sea,  enjoyed  the  advantages  both  of  the  four 
years  in  college,  and  of  the  additional  years  (generally  three) 
in  the  theological  seminaries. 

The  average  length  of  missionary  service  performed  by  one 
hundred  and  thirty-four  brethren,  who  went  from  the  Andover 


THE  MISSIONARIES.  275 

Seminary  up  to  the  year  1858,  will  doubtless  admit  of  a  gen- 
eral application.  The  sum  total  of  these  one  hundred  and 
thirty-four  missionary  lives  was  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  years,  (reckoning  from  their  departure,  and,  when  they 
returned  home,  to  the  time  of  their  arriyal,)  so  that  the 
average  for  each  is  fourteen  years.  The  average  length  of 
service  of  the  thirty-four  who  died  in  the  field,  was  eleven 
years.  The  sixty-six  then  living  and  prosecuting  their  mis- 
sionary work,  had  seen  an  average  of  seventeen  years  and  a 
half,  and  the  period  was  of  course  growing  longer.  Two,  who 
died  on  the  islands  of 'the  Pacific,  averaged  seventeen  years 
and  six  months  ;  and  twelve  then  living  there,  averaged  eigh- 
teen years  and  four  months.  Five,  who  died  in  Southern  India 
and  Ceylon,  attained  to  the  average  of  thirteen  years  and 
nine  months,  (which  is  larger  than  any  where  else,  save  the 
Pacific,)  and  the  average  period  of  nine  then  living  in  India, 
was  twenty-one  years  and  nine  months.  Dr.  Mullens,  a 
highly  intelligent  English  missionary  at  Calcutta,  states,  from 
a  careful  induction  of  the  lives  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  mis- 
sionaries in  India,  that  he  found  the  average  duration  of  mis- 
sionary labor  in  that  country  was  sixteen  years  and  three 
quarters. 

It  should  be  added,  that  fifteen  of  the  Andover  brethren 
were  in  the  field  from  thirty  and  a  half  years  to  forty-two  and 
three  fourths.  Two  saw  forty-two  years  of  foreign  service; 
and  the  highest  average  among  the  older  men  was  in  India.* 

There  should  be  grateful  acknowledgment  made  of  the  pro- 
tective care  of  Providence  over  the  missionaries  and  their 
families,  when  going  to  and  returning  from  their  respective 
fields,  and  in  their  numerous  explorations,  their  long  and 
perilous  voyages  and  journeys,  in  all  manner  of  conveyances, 
over  all  continents  and  seas,  and  in  all  climates ;  and  so  too 
of  the  travels  of  officers  and  agents  of  the  Board.  The  length 
of  these  travels  is  not  much  short  of  a  million  of  miles.  One 

*  Memorial  of  the  Semi-centennial  Celebration  of  the  Founding  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  pp.  55,  56. 


276  THE  MISSIONS. 

of  the  Secretaries  has  traveled  considerably  over  fifty  thou- 
sand. Of  the  nearly  fifteen  hundred  persons,  only  two  suffered 
the  loss  of  life  by  shipwreck  —  Dr.  Armstrong,  one  of  the 
Secretaries,  and  Mr.  Pohlman,  a  missionary  in  China.  Messrs. 
Munson  and  Lyman  and  Dr.  Satterlee  died  by  the  hands  of 
savages,  while  on  tours  of  exploration.  Mr.  Benham,  of  the 
Siam  mission,  was  drowned  while  crossing  a  river  near  his  own 
dwelling ;  and  the  massacre  of  Dr.  Whitman  and  others  by 
the  Oregon  Indians,  in  1848,  was  in  their  own  houses. 

The  fifty  physicians,  ordained  and  unordained,  were  all 
expected  to  be  missionary  physicians,  that  is,  to  make  their 
medical  practice  subservient  to  the  grand  object  of  the  mis- 
sions. The  employing  of  missionary  physicians  grows  mainly 
out  of  the  practice  of  employing  married  missionaries.  Their 
first  care  is  of  the  mission  families  ;  but  they  are  expected  to 
exert  a  conciliating  influence  among  the  natives  by  the  kindly 
offices  of  their  profession.  Missionary  physicians  have  not 
been  sent  where  the  needful  medical  attendance  was  believed 
to  be  otherwise  attainable. 

The  tables  show  an  excess  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
females  above  the  number  of  males.  The  greater  part  of  these 
unmarried  women  were  in  missions  to  the  American  Indians. 
The  practice  of  sending  unmarried  females  beyond  sea,  has 
obtained  only  to  a  very  limited  extent.  It  has  been  so  difficult 
to  secure  for  them  permanent  and  agreeable  homes,  and  well- 
defined  and  appropriate  spheres  of  labor  in  no  danger  of 
failing,  that  the  appointments  are  now  in  great  measure  re- 
stricted to  female  boarding  schools  at  the  central  points  of 
the  larger  missions.  Every  considerable  mission  needs  one 
such  school,  and  one  or  two  competent  female  teachers  for  its 
instruction.  It  is  the  correlative  institution  with  the  school 
for  training  a  native  ministry. 

In  the  year  1825,  there  were  sixteen  farmers  and  mechanics 
in  the  missions  among  the  Cherokee  and  Choctaw  Indians. 
The  expectations  connected  with  this  class  of  agents  not  having 
been  realized,  it  has  gradually  been  withdrawn.  The  civilizing 
agencies,  as  they  may  be  called,  have  been  found  the  most 


THE  MISSIONARIES.  277 

expensive,  the  most  troublesome,  and  the  least  productive. 
The  first  company  sent  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  contained  a 
farmer ;  but  it  soon  appeared  that  he,  though  a  worthy  Chris- 
tian man,  had  no  vocation  there,  and  he  returned  home. 
Mere  civilization,  coming  in  contact  with  savages,  is  an  un- 
healthful  influence :  it  must  come  to  them  through  the  gospel. 

The  support  of  the  missionaries  and  their  families  has  been 
provided  for  in  various  ways,  and  the  manner  is  doubtless  still 
open  to  improvement.  In  the  North  American  Indian  and 
the  Sandwich  Islands  missions,  it  was  for  a  long  time  011  the 
principle  of  common  stock ;  and  at  the  Islands  there  was  a 
secular  agent,  and  a  depository  of  such  goods  as  the  missionaries 
needed.  Salaries  have  taken  the  place  of  this  system,  as 
being  every  way  more  economical.  There  was  much  difficulty, 
after  the  year  1848,  in  bringing  the  depository  at  the  Islands 
to  a  satisfactory  close.  The  missionaries  obtained  their  goods 
there  at  cost,  and  even  without  charge  for  duties :  what  would 
they  do  when  thrown  upon  the  market  and  merchants  of 
Honolulu  ?  But  the  matter  was  at  length  adjusted  ;  and, 
through  the  skill  and  faithfulness  of  the  agents,  a  considera- 
ble sum  was  realized  out  of  the  settlement  of  the  depository 
toward  the  expenses  of  the  mission.  In  India,  the  salaries 
were  originally  based  on  the  usage  of  English  missionary  soci- 
eties, giving  a  certain  sum  to  each  married  couple,  and  addi- 
tional sums  for  each  child,  house  rent,  etc.  The  Board  also 
adopted  their  plan  of  outfit.  The  English  manner  of  deter- 
mining the  salaries  not  proving  altogether  satisfactory,  the 
missionaries  in  Western  Asia  were  induced  to  receive  their 
siipport  nearly  as  pastors  do  in  the  United  States  —  the  sala- 
ries covering  every  thing,  and  varying  with  the  circumstances 
of  the  individual. 

The  Board  allows  no  pensions,  and  has  no  permanent  funds 
for  disabled  or  superannuated  missionaries,  or  for  the  widows 
or  children  of  missionaries.  It  provides  for  them  in  a  differ- 
ent way.  Its  rules  in  respect  to  the  former  classes  of  persons 
are  as  follows :  — 

When  superannuated  or  disabled  missionaries  or  assistant 


278  THE  MISSIONS. 

missionaries,  or  the  widows  of  missionaries  or  assistant  mis- 
sionaries, return  to  this  country  with  the  approbation  of  the 
Prudential  Committee,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Committee 
to  make  such  grants  toward  their  support  as  the  circum- 
stances of  each  case  shall  require,  and  as  shall  best  comport 
with  the  missionary  character  and  the  interests  of  the  mis- 
sionary cause ;  it  being  understood, — 

1.  That  no  pensions  or  annuities  are  to  be  settled  on  any 
person,  and  that  no  grant  is  to  be  made,  except  in  extraordi- 
nary cases,  for  any  other  than  the  current  year. 

2.  That,  except  in  extraordinary  cases,  after  the  lapse  of  a 
year  from  their  return,  no  grant  is  to  be  made  to  returned 
missionaries  or  assistant  missionaries,  who  are  neither  super- 
annuated nor  disabled  by  sickness,  and  yet  are  not  expected 
to  resume  their  missionary  labors. 

3.  That  missionaries  and  assistant  missionaries,  who  return 
on  account  of  sickness,  and  recover  their  health,  and  remain 
in  this  country,  are  no  longer  to  be  regarded  as  having  claims 
upon  the  Board  for  pecuniary  assistance. 

4.  That  missionaries  and  assistant  missionaries,  who  return 
on  account  of  sickness,  and  partially  recover  their  health,  so 
as  to  attend .  to  the  ordinary  business  of  life  for  a  number  of 
years,  are  not  to  be  regarded,  when  they  again  lose  their 
health,  as  having  the  same  claims  upon  the  Board  as  they  had 
when  they  first  arrived. 

The  rules  concerning  the  return  of  the  children  of  the  mis- 
sionaries to  the  United  States,  and  their  subsequent  support, 
are  the  following  :  — 

1.  When   missionaries  or  assistant  missionaries   desire   to 
send  their  children  to  this  country  for  education,  and  when  it 
is  decided,  in  a  manner  conformable  to  the  rules  and  usages 
of  the  Board,  that  the  children  may  come,  the  arrangements 
for  the  passage,  so  far  as  they  involve  expense,  shall  have  the 
concurrence  of  the  mission,  and  the  allowance,  extraordinary 
cases  excepted,  shall   be   only  for  a  passage   direct  to  this 
country. 

2.  When  the  children  arrive  in  this  country,  the  Prudential 


THE  MISSIONARIES.  279 

Committee  will  see  that  they  have  a  suitable  conveyance  to 
the  places  where  they  are  to  be  educated  or  to  reside  ;  and 
the  Committee  may  make  grants,  on  application  from  the 
parents  or  guardians,  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  sixty  dollars 
a  year  for  a  boy,  and  fifty  dollars  for  a  girl,  until  the  children 
are  eighteen  years  old. 

3.  Children  who  are  left  orphans,  and  without  a  suitable 
home  in  the  mission,  or  responsible  guardian,  will  receive  the 
immediate  and   kind  consideration  of  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee, who  will  make  an  arrangement  for  their  return  home, 
and  provide  for  them  the  best  guardianship  in  their  power. 

4.  The  allowances  made  on  account  of  the  children  of  living 
missionaries  or  assistant  missionaries,  wherever  the  children 
may  be  educated,  shall  be  charged  to  the  mission  to  which  the 
parents  belong ;  and  the  allowances  made  on  account  of  orphan 
children  shall,  in  ordinary  cases,  be  charged  to  the  mission  to 
which  the  parents  belonged  at  the  time  of  their  decease. 

5.  Such  are  the  multiplied  cares  and  duties  of  the  Pruden- 
tial Committee,  and  the  Treasurer  and  Secretaries,  that  it  is 
not  regarded  as  practicable  or  expedient  for  them  to  undertake 
the  guardianship  of  the  children  sent  to  this  country. 

The  sixty  dollars  given  to  a  boy,  and  the  fifty  to  a  girl, 
annually,  until  eighteen  years  of  age,  when  applied  for  by  the 
parent  or  guardian,  —  admitting  of  exceptions  in  extraordi- 
nary cases,  —  were  not  designed  to  be  sums  so  large  as  to 
interfere  with  outgoings  from  the  natural  fountains,  which 
exist  in  blood  relationships,  early  friendships  forthe  parents,  etc., 
but  rather  to  stimulate  and  facilitate  their  flow.  These  sums 
have  been  found  neither  too  large,  nor  too  small,  but  the  happy 
medium.  The  somewhat  peculiar  circumstances  of  this  coun- 
try have  of  course  been  considered  —  the  assimilating,  absorb- 
ing power  of  society  ;  the  constant  intermingling  of  the  great 
social  currents  ;  the  ease  of  obtaining  employment  and  self- 
support  ;  and  the  almost  unhealthful  stimulus  to  activity  in 
all  the  departments  of  life,  often  rendering  it  difficult  to  re- 
tain children  long  enough  under  parental  guardianship  and 
control ;  the  whole  inseparable  from  the  rapidly  developing 


280  THE  MISSIONS. 

resources  of  a  vast,  new  country.  The  leading  object  is  to 
bring  returned  missionary  children  into  the  great  social  cur- 
rents ;  and  this  is  best  secured  by  giving  free  scope  for  the 
operation  of  blood  relationships  and  friendships,  and  for  the 
freest  intermixture  with  native-born  children  in  the  schools 
and  employments  of  the  parental  home  and  country. 

Every  human  system  has  its  hardships,  but  the  results  to 
the  returned  children  of  missionaries  —  now  a  considerable 
number  —  have  been  at  least  as  favorable  as  with  the  children 
of  pastors. 

To  facilitate  the  working  of  the  entire  system,  books  are 
kept  by  the  Secretaries,  in  which  a  page  is  devoted  to  each 
returned  missionary,  widow,  and  child,  with  such  entries  of 
facts  and  grants  as  secure  a  prompt  action  on  every  request. 

Schools  and  asylums  for  missionary  children  have  some- 
times been  urged  upon  the  Board.  It  is  believed  that  the 
missionaries  would  now  generally  object  to  them,  for  the 
reasons  above  stated.  Some  of  the  best  friends  of  the  cause 
have  also  been  in  favor  of  instituting  a  permanent  fund  for 
superannuated  and  disabled  missionaries,  and  for  the  children 
of  missionaries.  But  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Board,  that  the 
existing  mode  of  providing  for  disabled  missionaries  and  the 
children  of  missionaries,  is  preferable  to  one  which  should 
have  a  permanent  fund  for  its  basis  —  more  simple,  more 
humane,  more  effective,  more  in  accordance  with  the  social 
condition  and  institutions  of  our  country ;  no  more  a  charity ; 
much  less  like  a  pension  ;  less  liable  to  perversion  ;  with  bet- 
ter effect  on  missionaries  and  their  children ;  more  accordant 
with  the  natural  laws  under  which  God  places  his  children ; 
and  less  likely  to  interfere  with  the  ordinary  receipts  of  the 
Board. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   CHURCHES. 

Relation  of  Missionaries  to  Native  Churches  and  Pastors.  —  Organization  of  Churches 
among'  the  Armenians.  — In  Syria.  —  Among1  the  Nestorians.  —  Among  the  Mahrattas. 

—  In  the  Arcot  Mission.  —  At  Madras.  —  In  the  Madura  District.  —  Corporate  Powers 
of  the  Missions.  —  Churches  in  Ceylon.  —  Caste  and  Polygamy. —  Churches  in  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  —  Among  the  Cherokees. — Among  the  Choctaws.  —  In  other  Tribes. 

—  Tabular  View  of  the  Churches.          >^_r- 

IT  will  be  a  convenient  and  suitable  introduction  to  this 
chapter,  to  quote  the  response  made  by  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee, in  the  year  1856,  to  the  request  of  the  Committee  of 
Thirteen  on  the  Deputation  to  India,  for  their  views  on  the 
relation  of  missionaries  to  the  native  churches  and  pastors. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  CHURCHES. 

In  general,  a  missionary  will  gather  his  first  church  at  his 
station.  But  he  will  find,  sooner  or  later,  that  God  has  given 
him  seals  of  his  ministry  in  other  places ;  and  the  question 
will  be  forced  upon  him,  Ought  I  to  form  these  scattered  sheep 
into  a  separate  flock  ?  It  may  be  difficult  at  times  to  answer 
this  inquiry.  The  proper  solution  will  not  depend  solely  on 
the  number  of  candidates  for  membership  in  the  new  church, 
for  ten  in  one  case  may  be  worth  more  than  twenty  in  another ; 
or  on  the  number  of  men  who  are  to  join  it,  as  five  may  be 
enough  in  one  case,  while  more  would  hardly  suffice  in 
another ;  or  on  the  materials  for  office-bearers,  as  it  may  some- 
times be  expedient  to  organize  a  church  without  any  officers ; 
or  on  the  installation  of  a  native  pastor  at  an  early  day,  for 
this  is  by  no  means  indispensable.  It  would  seem,  however, 
that  the  missionary  should  be  able  to  answer  the  following 
36  ^ 


282  THE  MISSIONS. 

questions  in  the  affirmative  :  Can  I  provide  a  competent  guide 
and  teacher,  ordained  or  unordained,  for  the  proposed  church  ? 
Will  the  gospel  have  a  freer  entrance  to  the  unevangelized 
masses  by  reason  of  such  a  step  ? 

As.  soon  as  possible,  every  church  should  have  its  own  native 
pastor,  the  members,  on  their  part,  contributing  for  his  sup- 
port according  to  their  ability,  and  he,  on  his  part,  adapting 
himself  in  a  reasonable  degree  thereto.  Such  aid  as  the  mis- 
sion may  render  should  be  considered  as  supplemental  and 
temporary.  And  not  only  should  the  pecuniary  burden  be 
thrown  upon  the  church  as  fast  as  possible ;  the  responsibility 
of  government  should  also  be  assumed  at  the  proper  time. 

In  the  first  instance,  missionaries  are  obliged  to  form 
churches  and  ordain  pastors.  They  have  the  requisite  power, 
because  it  is  essential  to  their  work.  What  they  are  to  do 
beyond  this  early  stage  of  ecclesiastical  development,  it  is  not 
for  us  to  say.  The  subject  is  not  within  our  sphere.  It  is 
wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  missionaries ;  and  on  no  account 
should  it  be  interfered  with.  They  have  the  right  to  decline 
forming  any  ecclesiastical  organization  for  themselves,  retain- 
ing their  connection  with  presbyteries,  classes,  associations, 
etc.,  in  this  country ;  or,  to  assume  one  that  shall  embrace  the 
native  churches  and  pastors.  In  the  contingency  first  sup- 
posed, they  will  give  to  the  native  churches  and  ministry  such  an 
organization  as  they  may  think  best,  to  be  afterward  modified 
by  the  latter  or  not,  according  to  their  own  free  choice.  In 
the  second  contingency,  it  is  presumed,  they  will  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  go  outside  of  the  principles  of  ecclesiastical  order 
which  are  recognized  by  the  denominations  represented  in  the 
Board. 

And  in  no  case  should  there  be  any  ecclesiastical  control 
exercised  by  missionaries  over  the  native  churches  and  minis- 
ters, save  that  which  may  grow  out  of  the  action  of  bodies 
composed  of  both  elements.  A  wise  disbursement  of  funds 
will  provide  all  the  checks  which  are  necessary  or  proper. 

And  this  leads  us  to  speak  of  a  fundamental  principle  of 
great  importance.  The  expenditure  of  money  should  always 


THE   CHURCHES.  283 

be  the  act  of  a  mission.  It  can  never  be  intrusted  to  an  eccle- 
siastical body,  however  constituted ;  because,  in  such  an  event, 
there  can  be  no  just  accountability.  By  our  present  system 
the  Prudential  Committee  are  responsible  to  the  Board  for  all 
the  moneys  received  into  the  treasury ;  and  the  missions  are 
responsible  to  the  Committee  for  all  the  moneys  sent  to  their 
respective  fields.  The  Board,  therefore,  know  where  to  look ; 
and  the  Committee  know  where  to  look.  Every  dollar  can  be 
followed  to  its  place  of  disbursement.  Any  other  plan  would 
be  fatally  defective. 

We  are  expected  to  state  our  convictions  in  regard  to  the 
expediency  of  forming  ecclesiastical  bodies  that  shall  combine 
the  missionary  and  the  native  elements.  This  is  a  question  of 
peculiar  delicacy.  Still,  as  we  have  disclaimed  all  right  of 
interference  in  such  matters,  and  shall  be  understood  to  express 
an  opinion  merely,  we  will  venture  to  say  that  we  consider 
such  a  union  undesirable. 

At  this  point  it  will  be  necessary  to  inquire  more  particularly 
into  the  exact  position  which  a  missionary  occupies. 

He  is  a  foreigner.  No  matter  how  closely  he  may  have 
identified  himself  with  his  calling ;  in  his  relations  to  the  peo- 
ple among  whom  he  dwells,  he  is  only  a  stranger.  He  remains 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  If  laid  aside  from  his  labors, 
he  returns  here.  If  he  dies,  his  family  return  here.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  natives  will  always  regard  him  as  one  from  a 
distant  land.  His  speech,  his  dress,  his  food,  each  bewrayeth 
him.  They  may  honor  him  greatly,  and  love  him  much ;  but 
one  of  themselves  he  can  never  be. 

His  work  is  temporary.  It  may,  indeed,  outlast  his  life ; 
still,  it  is  destined,  with  God's  blessing,  to  have  an  end.  When 
the  churches  shall  have  reached  a  certain  point,  he  expects  to 
move  forward.  He  is  like  the  general  who  penetrates  the  ene- 
my's country  just  as  fast  as  he  can  secure  the  key-points. 

His  duties  are  peculiar.  He  is  an  evangelist.  When  he 
gathers  churches,  it  is  not  to  be  their  pastor ;  he  raises  up 
others  to  take  this  charge  and  burden.  True,  he  may  act  as  a 
pastor  for  a  time ;  but  it  is  simply  from  necessity.  His  sphere 
is  aggression,  conquest. 


284  THE  MISSIONS. 

He  is  also  a  disbursing  agent.  He  must  have  money,  not 
only  for  his  own  support,  but  for  other  objects.  He  must  sus- 
tain schools,  employ  assistants,  and  scatter  abroad  the  word 
of  life.  To  this  end  a  weighty  trust  is  committed  to  him. 

Is  it  expedient  that  such  men  should  form  ecclesiastical  rela- 
tions with  the  native  churches  and  pastors  ?  We  think  not. 
It  seems  to  us  that  simplicity  of  arrangement  is  against  it. 
The  true  and  abiding  elements  in  the  ecclesiastical  body  are 
the  native  churches  and  the  native  ministry.  Why,  therefore, 
should  the  missionary  element  be  introduced,  when  there  is  no 
necessity  for  it  ?  And  congruity  is  against  it.  The  mission- 
ary and  the  native  pastors  can  never  sustain  precisely  the  same 
relations  to  their  common  work.  There  is  a  radical,  insur- 
mountable diversity. 

Separate  action  will  be  for  the  advantage  of  all  parties. 
The  independence  of  the  native  element  will  be  more  sure. 
If  missionaries  are  in  the  ecclesiastical  body,  they  will  exert, 
almost  of  necessity,  a  predominating  influence.  The  power 
of  self-government  will  be  best  developed  in  this  way.  The 
native  churches  and  ministers  must  have  responsibilities  to 
bear  before  they  can  learn  how  to  bear  them.  By  this  plan 
there  will  be  less  danger  of  embarrassment  and  disorder  when 
the  missionaries  leave  for  "  regions  beyond." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  mission  will  do  its  work  with  the 
greatest  freedom  if  it  act  only  as  a  mission.  United  with  the 
native  element,  it  will  often  be  obliged  to  consider  questions  in 
a  twofold  capacity.  This  may  be  very  undesirable.  Suppose, 
for  example,  the  missionaries  to  be  outvoted  by  the  native 
churches  and  pastors,  in  a  matter  which  involves  the  expendi- 
ture of  money.  When  they  take  up  the  subject  as  a  mission, 
they  will  find  themselves  in  a  position  of  special  difficulty. 
As  members  of  the  ecclesiastical  body,  though  in  a  minority, 
they  are  bound  to  yield  to  its  decision  ;  as  members  of  the 
mission,  in  view  of  their  pecuniary  accountableuess,  they  may 
feel  constrained  to  nullify  the  act. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  native  body  will  need  the  wisdom 
and  experience  of  the  missionaries.  But  all  the  assistance 


THE   CHURCHES.  285 

which  is  desirable,  it  would  seem,  may  be  obtained  in  the  form 
of  counsel.  The  advisory  influence  which  may  be  exerted 
according  to  some  natural  arrangement,  and  the  regulating 
power  which  necessarily  grows  out  of  the  disbursement  of 
money,  will  probably  suffice  for  the  happiest  development  of 
the  churches  that  may  be  formed  in  any  part  of  the  world. 

The  actual  proceedings  of  the  missionaries  will  appear  in  the 
concise  statement  which  follows,  concerning  native  churches 
and  other  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  the  several  missions. 


WESTERN  ASIA. 

The  mission  to  the  Armenians  was  the  first  to  give  a  regular 
organization  to  its  native  churches.  This  it  did  at  its  annual 
meeting  in  June,  1846,  at  the  request  of  native  brethren  after 
they  had  been  expelled  from  their  national  church  for  not 
conforming  to  its  idolatrous  practices.  Three  forms  of  church 
government  were  represented  at  the  meeting  of  the  missiona- 
ries, but  there  was  a  perfect  agreement  among  them.* 

The  first  three  articles  of  the  plan  of  organization  were 
these :  — 

1.  The  officers  of  the  Evangelical  Armenian  Church  shall 
consist  of  elders  or  bishops,  (called  also  pastors,  etc.,)  and 
deacons,  to  be  chosen  by  the  male  members  of  the  church, 
and  set  apart  by  prayer  and  the  imposition  of  hands. 

2.  In  the  first  Evangelical  Armenian  church  in  Constanti- 
nople there  shall  be,  for  the  present,  one  elder  or  bishop,  and 
two  deacons ;  it  being  understood  that  the  number  of  either 
may  hereafter  be  increased,  as  circumstances  demand. 

3.  Inasmuch    as   discipline,   according  to  the   Scriptures, 
(1  Cor.  v.  4  and  2  Cor.  ii.  6,)  belongs  not  to  the  clergy  alone, 
but  with  them  to  the  people,  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  always 
convenient  nor  expedient  for  the  whole  church  to  come  together 

*  For  a  full  statement  of  the  Plan  of  Organization,  Confession  of  Faith, 
Covenant,  Rules  of  Discipline,  etc.,  see  Appendix  to  the  Annual  Report  for 
1846,  pp.  238-244,  and  Missionary  Herald  for  1846,  pp.  317-320. 


286  THE  MISSIONS. 

for  this  purpose,  they  shall  choose  three  or  more  brethren  as 
"  helps,"  "  governments,"  (1  Cor.  xii.  28,)  to  form,  with  the 
pastor  and  deacons,  a  church  session  or  standing  committee, 
for  the  examination  of  candidates  for  admission  into  the 
church  and  the  administration  of  discipline. 

The  fourth  provides  that  one  half  of  the  session  or  com- 
mittee be  elected  annually.  The  next  article  is  quoted 
entire :  — 

5.  The  first  bishops  or  pastors  and  deacons,  chosen  by  the 
church,  shall  be  set  apart  to  their  office  by  prayer  and  the 
imposition  of  hands,  in  the  presence  of  the  church,  by  mis- 
sionaries of  the  American  Board,  and  such  other  ministers  of 
Christ  as  may  be  invited  to  assist ;  it  being  understood  that 
this  is  merely  a  rule  of  present  expediency  and  convenience ; 
and  also,  that  it  belongs  to  the  Evangelical  Armenian  church 
to  provide,  thereafter,  for  the  ordination  of  its  own  officers, 
according  to  the  apostolic  example. 

Candidates  for  admission  to  the  church,  who  give  satisfac- 
tory evidence  of  piety  to  the  standing  committee  or  church 
session,  are  to  be  proposed  by  the  pastor  at  a  regular  meeting 
of  the  church,  two  weeks  previous  to  the  communion :  the 
male  members  vote  on  the  question  of  their  admission ;  and 
they  are  received  on  assenting  to  the  confession  of  faith  and 
the  covenant,  which  is  done  in  the  presence  of  the  church. 

The  rules  of  discipline  provide  for  the  trial  of  offenders  as 
follows :  "  The  trial  of  persons  for  offenses  shall  be  conducted 
by  the  standing  committee  or  church  session,  who,  after  a 
thorough  and  impartial  investigation  of  the  case,  shall  report 
their  decision  to  the  male  members  of  the  church,  with  the 
written  evidence  for  and  against  the  accused,  the  final  sen- 
tence being  passed  by  vote  of  the  church." 

Obstinate  cases  of  disagreement  between  the  church  and  the 
standing  committee  are  to  be  referred  to  a  meeting  of  the 
pastors  and  delegates  of  the  associated  churches.  And  mem- 
bers aggrieved  by  the  decision  of  the  standing  committee  or 
session  and  church,  may,  in  like  manner,  appeal  to  the  same 
body,  whose  decision,  in  all  cases,  is  to  be  final.  To  this  body 


THE   CHURCHES.  287 

it  belongs,  also,  to  try  an  accused  minister,  with  power  to  sus- 
pend or  depose  him  from  the  ministry.*  After  being  thus 
deposed,  he  is  to  be  "  subject  to  the  discipline  of  the  church 
to  which  he  belongs,  in  the  same  way  as  other  private 
members." 

The  first  church  was  organized  July  1,  1846,  at  Pera,  the 
suburb  of  Constantinople,  in  which  the  foreign  embassadors 
reside,  and  where  the  missionaries  commenced  operations.  It 
soon  afterward  elected  a  pastor,  two  deacons,  and  three  helpers. 
The  ordination  was  on  the  8th  of  July,  by  an  ecclesiastical 
council  invited  by  the  church,  consisting  of  missionaries  of 
the  Board,  and  one  from  the  mission  of  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland  to  the  Jews.  The  services  were  in  the  Turkish  and 
Armenian  languages.  This  church  is  now  self-supporting, 
and  its  pastor,  the  Rev.  K.  H.  S.  Eutujian,  addressed  the 
Board  at  its  Jubilee  Meeting. 

Churches  on  this  ecclesiastical  basis  were  soon  after  formed 
in  Nicomedia,  Ada  Bazar,  and  Trebizond.  At  the  present  time 
there  are  twenty-seven  churches  among  the  Armenians,  with 
eleven  hundred  and  six  members.  The  number  received  the 
past  year  was  two  hundred  and  two,  and  the  number  from  the 

*  In  a  volume  called  The  Evangelical  Church  Member's  Guide,  published 
by  the  mission  in  Armenian,  this  body  is  spoken  of  under  the  name  of  the 
Presbyterial  Assembly,  or  Presbytery.  Dr.  "Wood,  one  of  the  Secretaries  of 
the  Board,  was  formerly  connected  with  the  Armenian  mission,  and  has  trans- 
lated from  this  Guide  as  follows :  — 

The  ecclesiastical  assemblies,  commonly  defined,  are  of  four  kinds  or 
grades : — 

1.  The  gathering  of  all  the  members  of  a  particular  church,  with  its  pastors 
and  officers.     This  is  called  the  Assembly  (or  meeting)  of  the  Church. 

2.  The  pastor  of  the  church,  with  the  helpers  and  deacon  or  deacons.     This 
is  the  Assembly  of  the  Care-takers,  (session,  consistory,  standing  committee.) 

3.  The  pastors  and  representatives  of  all  the  churches  in  a  particular  district. 
This  is  the  Presbyterial  Assembly,  (presbytery,  classis,  consociation.) 

4.  A  general  ecclesiastical  convocation,  composed  of  representatives  of  all 
the  churches  of  every  district.     This  is  designated  the  General  Assembly. 

The  words  in  parentheses  were  supplied  by  the  translator  as  explanatory ; 
and  he  says,  "The  office  of  these  several  bodies  is  denned  in  accordance  with 
the  plan  adopted  in  1846  —  the  General  Assembly  being  declared  a  bond  of 
union  merely,  without  legislative  or  judicial  functions." 


288  THE  MISSIONS. 

beginning  is  twelve  hundred  and  seventy-nine.  There  are 
seven  native  pastors,  and  somewhat  more  than  thirty  licensed 
native  preachers. 

The  native  Protestants  in  Syria  were  probably  induced  to 
move  for  an  ecclesiastical  organization  among  themselves  by  the 
action  of  their  Armenian  brethren.  On  the  9th  of  February, 
1848,  they  presented  a  petition  and  a  plan  for  organization  to 
the  mission,  then  assembled  at  Beirut.  Certain  modifications 
were  suggested  by  the  mission  to  the  native  brethren,  in  view 
of  the  Constitution  and  Discipline  of  the  Evangelical  Arme- 
nian Church,  "  in  order  that  their  organization  might  not  ma- 
terially differ  from  that  already  recognized  in  other  parts  of 
the  empire."  *  The  only  important  divergence  is  in  the  fol- 
lowing article :  "  When  the  evangelical  churches  in  Syria 
become  three  or  more  in  number,  the  cases  of  disagreement  in 
the  particular  churches  shall  be  referred  to  a  regular  council 
of  the  elders  and  delegates  of  the  other  sister  churches,  each 
church  choosing  one  delegate ;  and  the  decision  of  such  coun- 
cil shall  be  final." 

Three  churches  have  been  formed  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Syria  mission,  containing  an  aggregate  of  one  hundred  and 
nineteen  members,  of  whom  nineteen  were  added  the  past 
year.  As  yet  there  are  no  native  pastors. 

The  reason  for  organizing  distinct  evangelical  churches  in 
Turkey  has  been  stated.  The  converts  were  subjected  to 
excommunication,  and  even  outlawry,  by  their  ecclesiastical 
authorities.  Matters  have  not  gone  to  such  an  extreme  among 
the  Nestorians  of  Persia.  Though  the  Patriarch,  lately  de- 
ceased, has  been  hostile  to  the  reformation,  he  has  ventured 
to  excommunicate  no  one,  not  even  the  Bishop  Mar  Yohanan, 
who  had  violated  the  usage  of  the  bishops  of  his  church  by 
marrying,  after  the  example  of  Luther  and  the  apostles.  A 
brother  of  the  Patriarch  has  been  one  of  the  most  efficient 

*  For  the  Petition,  Constitution,  and  Discipline  in  full,  see  Missionary  Her- 
ald for  1848,  pp.  266-270. 


THE  CHURCHES.  289 

fellow-laborers  of  the  mission.  The  good  old  bishop,  Mar 
Elia,  "  dispensing  with  the  usual  mummeries  and  readings  in 
a  dead  language,"  lately  united  with  the  missionaries  in  the 
ordination  of  a  promising  young  mountain  Nestorian,  "  ac- 
cording to  apostolic  forms,"  as  an  evangelist.  The  mission 
has  believed  that  the  cause  of  Christ  would  not  be  promoted" 
among  that  people,  thus  far,  by  the  organizing  of  distinct 
local  churches.  But  a  separation  of  the  true  church  from 
the  world  has  been  deemed  needful,  and  about  the  year  1855, 
the  mission  adopted  the  practice  of  inviting  the  hopeful  con- 
verts to  communion  with  the  mission  church,  after  there  had 
been  a  careful  personal  examination  into  the  experience  and 
life  of  each  individual.  A  communion  season  in  January, 
1858,  is  thus  described :  "  The  whole  day  was  given  up  to 
religious  services.  An  early  morning  prayer  meeting  was 
held,  and  soon  after  breakfast  the  people  assembled  again  for 
the  same  purpose,  and  continued  together  till  near  noon,  when 
there  was  a  recess  for  refreshments.  This  might  not  inaptly 
be  termed  a  love-feast,  where  large  companies  sat  down  to  a 
plain  repast,  and  ate  bread  together  '  with  gladness  and  single- 
ness of  heart,  praising  God.'  Previous  to  the  administration 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  a  translation  of  the  covenant  of  the 
mission  church  was  read,  and  the  communicants  all  rose  with 
us  and  gave  their  assent  to  it.  It  was  a  scene  of  solemn  and 
thrilling  interest  to  the  Nestorians,  and  we  have  reason  to 
believe  its  effect  was  most  happy.  The  great  severity  of  the 
season  prevented  many  ^females  at  a  distance,  most  of  them 
mothers  of  little  children,  from  coming.  Some  incidents  will 
show  how  the  ordinance,  administered  in  the  primitive  sim- 
plicity of  apostolic  usage,  is  prized  as  a  means  of  grace.  One 
poor  woman  came  about  sixty  miles,  through  deep  snow,  in 
piercing  cold,  crossing  a  bleak  mountain,  to  enjoy  the  hal- 
lowed occasion.  Two  individuals  came  a  greater  distance, 
from  another  direction.  These  seasons  are  growing  in  inter- 
est, and  are  eminently  a  means  of  advancement  in  the  divine 

life,  and  of  spiritual  edification  to  Christ's  chosen  ones  here."  * 

/ 

»  Missionary  Herald  for  1858,  p.  155. 

37 


290  THE  MISSIONS. 

Four  hundred  persons  had  been  thus  recognized  by  the  mis- 
sion, at  the  close  of  the  year  1860,  of  whom  three  hundred 
and  eighty-five  were  then  in  full  communion.  The  native 
communicants  have  become  so  numerous,  that  the  ordinance 
is  now  administered  in  different  places.  Lights  thus  kindled 
without  the  pale  of  the  Nestorian  Church,  (yet,  in  another 
sense,  within,)  are  working  a  gradual  but  sure  separation 
between  the  precious  and  the  vile,  and  exerting  a  strong 
reforming  influence.* 

INDIA. 

In  the  oldest  mission  of  the  Board  —  that  among  the  Mah- 
rattas  of  Western  India — churches  existed  in  1854  at  Bom- 
bay, Ahmednuggur,  Seroor,  and  Satara,  with  an  aggregate  of 
about  one  hundred  and  sixty  members,  with  no  native  office- 
bearers at  that  time,  and  with  the  most  primitive  simplicity  of 
form.  A  Presbyterian  church  had  been  formed  at  Ahmed- 
nuggur in  March,  1833,  consisting  of  fourteen  members,  ten 
of  them  Hindoos,  with  a  native  elder  and  a  native  deacon ; 
but  the  denominational  character  of  the  church  was  not  long 
preserved.  We  have  no  information  as  to  the  time  when  it 
ceased,  or  of  the  reasons  for  the  change.  The  church  at  Ah- 
mednuggur was  divided  into  two  churches  in  1854,  a  native 
pastor  was  ordained  over  each,  deacons  were  appointed,  and 
arrangements  made  for  forming  village  churches.  Eight  such 
churches  now  exist  in  the  region  about  Ahmednuggur ;  and 
the  number  of  members  in  the  thirteen  churches  of  the  whole 
mission  is  three  hundred  and  ninety-six.  Nearly  seventy  new 
members  were  received  in  the  year  1859.  There  are  at  pres- 
ent four  native  pastors. 

In  June,  1856,  before  the  reunion  of  the  several  missions, 
the  Ahmednuggur  mission  drew  up  the  following  plan  for  the 
native  churches,  on  which  it  is  supposed  those  churches  will 
manage  their  ecclesiastical  affairs :  — 

«  Annual  Report  of  the  Board,  1860,  p.  85. 


THE   CHURCHES.  291 

The  native  churches  under  the  care  of  the  Ahmednuggur 
mission  shall  each  have  a  deacon,  or  deacons,  and  a  pastor 
when  one  can  be  obtained.  When  a  pastor  can  not  be  ob- 
tained, the  missionary  in  charge  of  the  field  in  which  the 
church  is  situated  shall  act  as  pastor  of  the  church. 

In  the  introduction  of  members  to  the  church,  in  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  church,  in  the  election  of  a  pastor  and  deacons, 
and  in  all  other  business  which  may  come  before  the  church, 
the  male  members  of  the  church  in  good  standing  shall  be 
regarded  as  the  fountain  of  authority,  and  the  majority  of 
votes  of  these  members,  assembled  in  a  meeting  regularly 
called,  shall  decide  every  question. 

At  the  meetings  of  the  church,  the  missionary  acting  as 
pastor  shall  have  no  vote,  though  he  may  express  his  opinions 
when  he  thinks  best. 

It  shall  be  competent  for  any  church  to  choose  a  committee, 
or  appoint  elders,  who,  with  the  pastor,  shall  be  empowered  to 
perform  the  business  of  the  church,  and  decide  all  those  ques- 
tions which  are  mentioned  above  as  to  be  decided  by  the  major- 
ity of  votes  of  male  members  of  the  church. 

The  native  pastors  shall  be  formed  into  a  Presbytery,  (if 
they  approve  this  plan,)  the  duties  and  forms  of  which  are 
hereafter  explained. 

The  Presbytery  shall  consist  of  the  pastors  of  churches 
under  its  care,  and  of  a  delegate  from  each  church. 

Three  pastors  shall  form  a  quorum  competent  to  perform 
the  regular  business  of  the  Presbytery. 

The  missionaries  shall  form  no  part  of  the  Presbytery ;  but 
the  mission  may  appoint  some  one  or  more  of  its  members  to 
attend  the  meetings  of  the  Presbytery,  to  give  advice  in  mat- 
ters of  difficulty ;  but  no  one  shall  be  allowed  to  vote  on  any 
question  of  business  except  the  regular  members  of  the  Pres- 
bytery. 

The  Presbytery  shall  have  power  to  license  men  to  preach 
the  gospel,  and  to  withdraw  the  license ;  to  ordain  pastors  and 
evangelists,  and  to  depose  ministers  who,  after  a  regular  trial, 
are  found  unworthy  to  remain  in  that  office ;  and  to  do  all 


292  THE  MISSIONS. 

other  acts  connected  with  the  discipline  of  ministers  usually 
devolving  upon  the  Presbytery  —  thus  relieving  the  mission, 
entirely  of  those  ecclesiastical  duties  which  from  necessity  it 
has  temporarily  been  called  upon  to  perform. 

The  Presbytery  shall  also  receive  appeals  from  churches 
under  its  care  in  reference  to  difficulties  which  the  church  can 
not  settle,  and  shall  adjudicate  the  same  according  to  the 
teachings  of  the  word  of  God,  and  the  principles  laid  down 
in  the  Book  of  Discipline  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of 
Scotland  and  America. 

The  Arcot  mission  had  five  churches  in  1857,  with  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-six  members.  These  churches  are  formed 
on  the  doctrines  and  rules  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church, 
with  which  the  members  of  the  mission  are  connected.  Native 
pastors  are  to  be  united  with  the  missionaries  in  a  classis. 

The  two  churches  in  the  Madras  mission  contain  seventy- 
four  members.  They  are  assimilated  to  the  Scotch  churches 
of  that  city,  and  perhaps  form  a  part  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Madras. 

The  ten  churches  in  the  Madura  mission  numbered  five 
hundred  and  seventy-one  members  in  1855.  The  number  in 
the  following  year  was  six  hundred  and  seventy-seven.  The 
present  number  is  ten  hundred  and  twelve ;  and  there  are  now 
twenty-eight  churches — eleven  being  at  the  stations,  and  sev- 
eventeen  formed  elsewhere.  The  Mandahasalie  district  has 
nine  churches ;  Periaculum,  seven ;  and  Madura  city,  Dindigul, 
and  Tirumungalum,  two  each.  There  are  six  native  pastors. 
A  seventh,  ordained  in  1855,  and  the  first  in  the  series,  has 
removed  to  Madras,  and  is  acting  pastor  of  the  church  at 
Royapurum. 

The  mission  wrote  as  follows  in  1851 :  "  When  the  Holy 
Spirit  blesses  the  truth,  and  converts  a  portion  of  the  people, 
we  are  to  receive  all  who  give  evidence  of  piety  into  the  visible 
catholic  church,  and  afterward  to  form  them  into  associations 
resembling,  so  far  as  circumstances  admit,  the  churches  planted 
by  the  apostles.  We  are  then  to  watch  over  and  teach  these 


THE   CHURCHES.  293 

Christians  to  act  for  themselves,  and  in  due  time  ordain  over 
them  suitable  native  pastors."  A  constitution  of  the  Ecclesi- 
astical Association  of  the  American  Madura  Mission,  as  revised 
in  1851,  lies  before  us.  There  is  no  account  of  its  formation, 
and  the  deputation  heard  no  mention  made  of  it  during  their 
sojourn  with  the  mission  in  1855.  It  was  composed  of  the 
members  of  the  mission  de  facto.  While  the  churches  were  in 
their  infancy,  every  ordained  missionary  was  recognized  as  hav- 
ing the  right,  in  his  own  proper  district,  to  organize  churches, 
judge  of  the  qualifications  necessary  for  church  membership, 
receive  members,  and  excommunicate  for  immoral  conduct. 
As  the  native  helpers  sustained  a  general  relation  to  the  mis- 
sion, they  could  not  be  disciplined  without  the  consent  of  the 
Association.  Licensure  to  preach  the  gospel  belonged  to  the 
Association,  as  also  the  discipline  of  its  own  members ;  and  it 
was  made  its  duty,  as  soon  as  practicable,  to  prepare  and  rec- 
ommend to  the  mission  churches  a  system  of  church  and 
ecclesiastical  polity  best  adapted  to  promote  their  purity  and 
increase.  Except,  perhaps,  in  a  single  church,  no  native  office- 
bearers were  appointed  previous  to  1855. 

The  district  of  Mandahasalie  was,  and  still  is,  under  the  care 
of  the  Rev.  H.  S.  Taylor.  On  the  25th  of  May,  1857.  Mr.  Tay- 
lor met  the  two  native  pastors,  with  delegates  from  six  of  the 
seven  native  churches  within  the  bounds  of  his  district.  Cer- 
tain rules  for  an  ecclesiastical  union  had  been  previously  sent 
to  the  several  churches  for  their  consideration,  and  these  were 
now  adopted.  The  Mandahasalie  Christian  Sungkum,  or 
Society,  was  thus  formed,  composed  of  the  native  pastors  and 
delegates  of  the  churches  in  the  Mandahasalie  district.  The 
missionary  was  enrolled  merely  as  an  adviser.  Village  con- 
gregations where  no  churches  had  been  formed  were  allowed 
to  send  delegates,  who  might  speak  in  the  meetings,  but  not 
vote.  Churches  must  hold  the  common  confession  of  faith  in 
order  to  come  into  the  union.  The  object  of  the  Sungkum 
was  to  seek  the  good  of  the  churches.  The  churches  could  ask 
its  advice,  or  it  could  give  advice  unasked,  if  it  thought  proper. 
Respecting  the  organization  of  new  churches,  and  the  ordina- 


294  THE  MISSIONS. 

tion  of  pastors,  the  Sungkum  could  do  these  things,  or  seek 
to  have  them  performed  by  the  mission.* 

The  Madura  mission  denied  the  right  of  this  body  to  ordain 
native  pastors  with  an  understanding  or  implied  pledge,  that 
those  pastors  should  be  aided  in  their  support  by  the  mission 
funds,  unless  the  previous  consent  of  the  mission  had  been 
obtained.  The  matter  was  referred  to  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee, and  it  will  be  seen,  from  their  reply,  that  they  fully 
sustained  the  judgment  of  the  mission.  They  wrote  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

Having  no  ecclesiastical  authority,  the  Board  can  confer 
none.  Its  principle  is  "  entire  non-intervention,  on  the  part  of 
the  Board  and  its  officers,  on  the  whole  subject  of  ecclesiastical 
relations  and  organizations."  And  the  province  of  the  mis- 
sions, in  all  that  they  do  in  virtue  of  authority  derived  from 
the  Board,  is,  in  the  language  of  the  Board,  "  to  decide  upon 
the  places  where  labor  shall  be  performed,  and  the  persons 
and  instrumentalities  to  be  employed,  and  the  distribution  of 
funds."  In  respect  to  all  matters  such  as  these,  the  brethren 
assemble  and  act  under  the  authority  of  the  Board,  and 
appeals  may  be  taken,  on  all  such  matters,  to  the  Prudential 
Committee.  These,  indeed,  are  among  the  positive  duties  of 
the  mission,  as  an  agency  constituted  by  the  Board,  which  it 
may  not  delegate  to  any  other  bodies. 

But,  as  indicated  above,  ministers  and  missionaries  of 
Christ,  however  brought  together,  have  other  relations  besides 
those  sustained  to  the  Board,  and  other  responsibilities  and 
duties  besides  those  for  which  the  Board  holds  them  directly 
accountable  to  itself.  It  is  from  another  and  higher  source 
they  derive  their  authority  to  organize  churches,  and  ordain 
preachers  and  pastors.  It  is  not  for  us  to  say  how  these  duties 
can  best  be  performed,  except  that  all  can  see,  since  one  part  of 
the  work  —  namely,  the  financial  —  is  necessarily  managed  by 
the  entire  body  of  missionaries,  how  desirable  it  is  that  there 
be  unity  of  action  in  the  management  of  the  other  part. 

*  Missionary  Herald  for  1857,  p.  306. 


THE  CHURCHES.  295 

There  is  nothing  in  the  rules  or  proceedings  of  the  Board  to 
prevent  the  brethren  acting  together  for  these  objects,  under 
Christ's  commission,  as  a  mission,  if  they  choose  so  to  do. 
Only  it  should  be  distinctly  understood  by  every  one,  that 
they  are  then  acting  as  a  body  of  ministers,  in  their  ecclesias- 
tical relations  and  capacity ;  and  it  will  be  found  useful,  and 
it  is  recommended,  that  there  be  a  record  of  these  proceed- 
ings, distinct  and  separate  from  that  of  the  other  class  of  pro- 
ceedings. 

"What  is  said  of  the  ecclesiastical  organizations  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Ceylon  mission,  rests  chiefly  on  the  very  com- 
petent authority  of  the  Rev.  Benjamin  C.  Meigs,  one  of  the 
first  company  of  missionaries  sent  by  the  Board  to  that  island. 
The  missionaries  formed  themselves  into  a  church  on  their 
first  arrival  in  1816.  Being  all  from  the  Congregational  body, 
the  church  of  course  assumed  that  form.  Native  converts 
were  received  into  this  church  until  1831,  when,  for  greater 
convenience  in  exercising  necessary  discipline,  separate 
churches  were  formed,  one  at  each  station  ;  the  missionaries, 
at  the  same  time,  constituting  themselves  into  an  association 
"  for  mutual  aid  in  regulating  the  concerns  of  the  different 
churches."  This  body  was  called  the  "  Consociation  or  Pres- 
bytery." There  being  no  elders  in  the  local  churches,  there 
were  of  course  none  in  this  body,  nor  was  there  ever  a  lay 
representation  from  the  churches.  At  the  quarterly  com- 
munions, when  the  churches  all  met  in  one  place,  some  of  the 
native  preachers  were  requested  to  distribute  the  bread  and 
wine.  Deacons  do  not  appear  to  have  been  appointed  in  more 
than  one  of  the  station  churches  :  they  certainly  were  in  the 
village  churches,  when  they  received  native  pastors.  "In 
the  government  of  the  church,"  says  the  venerable  missionary, 
"  the  native  members  seemed  disposed  to  put  the  laboring  oar 
into  the  hands  of  the  missionaries.  This,  however,  we  resisted. 
It  was  our  constant  object  to  train  all  the  male  members  of 
the  church  to  feel  their  responsibility  ;  and  that  they  had  an 
important  part  to  perform,  both  in  the  examination  of  candi- 


296  THE  MISSIONS. 

dates  for  communion,  and  in  the  discipline  of  the  church. 
We  very  rarely  took  any  step  without  their  approbation,  or  at 
least  the  concurrence  of  a  majority  of  the  male  members." 
From  1835  or  1836  to  1840,  the  word  Consociation  was 
dropped  from  the  name  of  the  mission  when  acting  as  a  gen- 
eral ecclesiastical  body,  and  then  it  was  resumed  ;  but  there 
were  no  other  changes.  The  body  was  made  up  of  the  ordained 
missionaries,  the  unordained  missionary  physician,  and  the 
missionary  printer,  who  was  a  layman.  It  obviously  had  more 
authority  than  an  Association,  and  less  than  a  Presbytery,  but 
differed  in  its  constitution  from  an  Association,  Consociation, 
or  Presbytery.  Cases  of  discipline  in  the  mission  families, 
should  such  arise,  were  to  be  attended  to  in  this  body,  and  not 
in  the  native  churches.  In  1855,  the  mission  began  the 
organization  of  village  churches  separate  from  those  which 
had  their  centers  at  the  residence  of  the  missionaries,  and  the 
ordination  of  native  pastors  over  those  churches ;  and  about 
the  same  time  they  discontinued  the  somewhat  indefinite 
ecclesiastical  name,  acting  simply  as  a  body  of  missionaries. 
There  are  now  three  village  churches  and  pastors.  In  what 
manner  these  are  to  be  ecclesiastically  united,  seems  not  yet 
decided.  It  was  thought  best  to  reorganize  the  missionaries 
and  their  families  in  a  church,  as  on  their  first  arrival ;  but 
this  was  a  private  matter,  for  the  benefit  of  those  families, 
with  no  direct  bearing  on  the  natives. 

Caste  is  one  of  the  greatest  social  evils  in  India,  and  is 
thoroughly  discountenanced  by  all  the  missions  under  the  care 
of  the  Board.  It  is  an  evil,  like  intemperance  in  our  own 
country,  that  requires  a  perpetual  watch  and  perpetual  effort ; 
and  thus  it  will  be  for  a  long  time  to  come.  It  connects  itself 
with  notions  of  family  rank  and  consequence,  and  of  the  value 
of  dowry ;  and  many  native  Christians  seem  too  desirous  of 
retaining  their  connections  with  their  heathen  relatives,  and 
too  fearful  of  the  consequences  that  would  follow  from  break- 
ing wholly  with  the  world.  The  following  pledge  was  signed 
by  about  ninety  of  the  leading  members  of  the  church,  in  con- 


THE   CHURCHES.  297 

nection  with  the  Ceylon  mission,  in  1855,  namely :  "  We,  the 
undersigned,  do  solemnly  pledge  ourselves  and  affirm,  that  we 
will  wholly  renounce  in  ourselves,  and  discountenance  in  oth- 
ers, all  caste  and  other  distinctions  and  usages  in  society,  which 
tend  to  foster  pride,  impair  the  affections,  and  hinder  the 
kindly  offices  of  Christian  love,  and  that  we  will  not  object  to 
eating  any  kind  of  food,  on  account  of  the  caste  of  the  person 
or  persons  by  whom  it  was  cooked  or  offered  to  us."  And  the 
mission  declared  its  intention  of  carrying  out  this  declaration, 
both  in  the  spirit  and  letter.  "  In  the  formation  of  future  vil- 
lage churches,"  they  say,  "  in  the  appointment  of  officers,  and 
in  the  ordination  of  pastors  over  them,  every  precaution  will 
be  taken  to  proceed  upon  correct  principles  in  reference  to 
caste." 

The  action  of  the  India  missions  during  the  visit  of  the 
deputation,  with  regard  to  polygamy,  was  explicit  and  satisfac- 
tory. The  Mahratta  mission  came  to  the  following  result: 
"  When  a  legal  divorce  can  be  effected,  it  should  always  be 
required  before  an  individual  be  admitted  to  the  church.  The 
only  cases  of  real  difficulty  which  present  themselves  to  our 
minds  are  when  a  legal  divorce  can  not  be  effected.  We  be- 
lieve, however,  that  it  is  not  expedient  to  admit  any  one  to  the 
church,  even  in  such  cases,  without  his  giving  a  written  pledge 
to  the  church  that  he  will  no  longer  cohabit  with  more  than 
one  wife,  and  that  he  will  also,  if  necessary,  support  the  wife 
thus  put  away  so  long  as  she  shall  lead  a  virtuous  life.  Such 
a  man,  though  unable  to  free  himself  from  the  legal  relation 
of  husband  to  the  person  thus  put  away,  we  believe  to  be  free 
from  the  guilt  of  polygamy,  and  hence  a  proper  candidate  for 
admission  to  the  church." 

The  Madura  mission  laid  down  this  principle :  "  That  as 
polygamy  is  contrary  to  the  original  design  of  the  Deity  in  the 
institution  of  the  marriage  relation,  and  opposed  to  all  the 
teachings  of  Christ,  and  as  there  is  no  positive  evidence  that 
the  apostles  ever  admitted  polygamists  into  the  churches  estab- 
lished by  them,  no  polygamist,  however  well  fitted  he  may  be 
in  other  respects,  should  be  admitted  to  any  of  our  churches 


298  THE  MISSIONS. 

until  he  has  entered  into  covenant  with  the  church  that  he 
will  henceforth  be  the  husband  of  only  one  wife." 

No  polygamists  have  ever  been  received  into  the  church  in 
the  Ceylon  mission,  nor,  indeed,  into  those  of  any  other  of  our 
India  missions ;  and  it  was  the  expectation  of  the  missions 
that  none  ever  would  be  received.  The  brethren  in  Arcot  say, 
"  Polygamy  has  not  existed,  and  will  not  be  allowed  to  exist, 
in  any  of  our  churches." 

Among  the  Zulus,  polygamy  prevails  in  its  most  revolting 
and  debasing  form,  and  constitutes  one  of  the  greatest  obsta- 
cles to  the  introduction  of  the  gospel.  A  high  English  eccle- 
siastic having  declared  his  intention  not  to  interfere  with  the 
married  life  of  the  Zulus,  and  having  reflected  .on  the  prac- 
tice of  his  American  brethren,  a  public  discussion  was  the  con- 
sequence. "  The  discussion,"  they  state,  "  has  resulted  in 
confirming  us  more  and  more  in  the  conviction,  that  our  rule," 
excluding  polygamists  from  the  mission  churches,  "  is  good — 
is  right — just  what  God  and  the  interests  of  his  kingdom 
demand  of  us,  and  demand  of  the  people  among  whom  we 
labor." 

SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

The  first  missionary  company  for  the  Sandwich  Islands  was 
constituted  a  church  in  Boston,  October  15,  1819,  just  before 
embarkation.  The  mission  church  consisted  of  seventeen 
members,  viz. :  the  two  missionaries  and  the  five  assistants, 
with  their  wives,  and  three  natives  of  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
all  of  whom  had  previously  belonged  to  other  churches,  and 
were  in  regular  standing.  The  covenant  and  articles  of  faith 
were  drawn  up  with  great  care  and  solemnity.  The  religious 
services  were  in  the  vestry  of  Park-street  Church,  by  Drs.  Morse 
and  Worcester,  and  by  Eev.  Sereno  E.  Dwight,  pastor  of  the 
church.  The  articles  and  covenant  were  assented  to  and  sub- 
scribed by  the  members,  in  the  presence  of  many  Christian 
friends.*  For  several  years  the  new  missionaries  appear  to 

*  Missionary  Herald  for  1819,  p.  263. 


THE   CHUKCHES.  299 

have  joined  this  church  on  arriving  at  the  Islands.  The  first 
mention  that  has  been  found  of  the  formation  of  native 
churches  was  in  1829.  In  1834,  there  were  seven  churches, 
and  the  number  of  members  up  to  that  time  was  seven  hun- 
dred and  ninety-five.  The  years  1837  and  1838  were  distin- 
guished for  one  of  the  most  remarkable  outpourings  of  the 
Spirit  on  record.  About  five  thousand  converts  were  received 
in  one  year,  from  June,  1837,  into  the  seventeen  churches  then 
existing.*  The  admissions  in  the  following  year  were  ten 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-five ;  and  there  were 
then  fifteen  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifteen  members  in 
regular  standing.  This  number  was  increased,  the  next  year, 
to  eighteen  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty-one.  The  average 
number  of  persons  admitted,  annually,  to  the  churches,  in  the 
eighteen  years  subsequent  to  1841,  (1842-1859,)  was  one 
thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-three.  At  the  latest  date 
there  were  twenty-three  churches,  and  fourteen  thousand  four 
hundred  and  thirteen  members.  The  number  from  the  begin- 
ning is  forty-three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-eight; 
and  sixteen  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-two  have  died. 

The  mission  has  been  accustomed  to  hold  a  general  meeting, 
in  the  month  of  May,  for  Christian  fellowship  and  the  transac- 
tion of  business.  But  it  having  been  virtually  discontinued, 
some  eight  or  ten  years  since,  as  an  organized  body,  the  Ha- 
waiian Evangelical  Association  took  its  place,  holding  its  annual 
meeting  at  the  same  time,  and  transacting  the  customary  busi- 
ness of  the  missionary  body.  This  association  was  formed  as 
early  as  1823,  "  for  mutual  improvement  and  aid  in  laying  the 
foundation,  maintaining  the  order,  and  building  up  the  house 
of  the  Lord  in  these  islands  of  the  sea."  In  1830,  the  origi- 
nal missionary  church  —  composed  then,  it  would  seem,  only  of 
persons  who  were  or  had  been  members  of  the  mission  —  was 
converted,  by  the  Association,  into  a  superintending  body  for 
the  native  churches.  In  the  following  year,  the  missionary 
pastors  at  the  several  stations  were  requested  to  prepare  some 

*  Report  of  the  Board,  1839,  p.  128. 


300  THE  MISSIONS. 

of  the  more  promising  church  members  to  be  set  apart  as 
elders.  In  1835,  the  Association  adopted  the  Presbyterian 
rules  of  discipline  as  their  general  guide.  The  act  of  1830, 
respecting  the  mission  church,  was  set  aside  by  the  Asso- 
ciation in  1839,  which  then  recommended,  that  the  several 
pastors  and  churches  elect  ruling  elders,  and  that  the  pastor 
and  elders  of  each  church  constitute  a  session,  or  committee, 
for  the  government  of  that  church.  It  was  also  recommended 
"  that  those  churches  which  may  prefer  the  Congregational 
form  of  government,  be  at  liberty  to  adopt  it  at  their  discre- 
tion ;  providing  always,  that  the  doings  of  such  churches  be 
subject  to  the  review  and  control  of  the  Presbytery,  and  also 
that  they  be  represented  in  the  Presbytery  by  their  pastor  and 
a  delegate  from  each  church."  It  entered  into  this  plan  of 
organization,  that  there  be  a  Presbytery  on  each  of  the  four 
large  islands,  to  be  composed  of  ministers  and  ruling  elders,  or 
delegates,  which  should  "  unite  in  one  General  Council,  to 
meet  at  such  times  and  places  as  shall  be  agreed  upon  from 
time  to  time,  and  exercise  a  general  review  and  control  over  all 
the  individual  Presbyteries."  Appeals  were  to  be  "  from  the 
church  session,  or  congregation,  to  the  Presbytery,  and  from 
thence  to  the  General  Council." 

It  afterward  appeared  that  there  were  brethren  who  dis- 
sented from  this  action  ;  though  Presbyteries  are  said  to  have 
been  formed  on  the  Islands  of  Kauai,  Maui,  and  Hawaii,  prior 
to  1841.  Neither  of  them  was  permanent,  and  it  may  be  they 
were  premature.  They  could  hardly  have  been  in  operation 
in  1846,  for  we  find  the  Association  then  adopting  the  follow- 
ing resolution :  "  That  the  brethren,  clerical  and  lay,  of  each 
island,  or  a  number  of  clergymen  not  less  than  three,  be  ap- 
pointed a  committee  of  this  body,  to  examine  and  license  such 
native  church  members  as  they  shall  judge  suitable  candidates 
for  the  ministry." 

In  1854,  the  mission,  as  has  been  intimated,  voted  to  transact 
their  annual  business  in  the  sessions  of  the  Hawaiian  Evan- 
gelical Association,  having  first  revised  and  enlarged  its  consti- 
tution. The  Association  was  now  empowered,  1.  To  examine, 


THE  CHURCHES.  301 

license,  and  ordain  candidates  for  the  gospel  ministry,  install 
and  dismiss  pastors,  and  perform  all  proper  ecclesiastical  busi- 
ness that  might  come  before  them  ;  2.  To  entertain  references 
from  pastors,  churches,  or  any  other  ecclesiastical  bodies,  and 
labor  by  its  counsels  to  promote  the  purity  and  unity  of  the 
churches  ;  3.  To  exercise  the  functions  of  an  ecclesiastical 
court,  in  respect  to  any  of  its  members  who  might  be  cited 
before  it  on  charges  of  criminal  or  disorderly  conduct,  or  for 
heretical  opinions. 

A  Presbytery  was  formed  for  the  Islands  of  Maui  and  Mo- 
lokai  in  July,  1860.  At  its  first  meeting  it  licensed  two 
young  natives  as  preachers,  and  ordained  a  native  pastor  as 
assistant  of  Mr.  Alexander,  at  Wailuku.  In  October  follow- 
ing, an  Evangelical  Association  was  formed  at  Hilo  for  the 
Island  of  Hawaii,  consisting  of  all  the  missionaries  on  the 
island,  with  an  equal  number  of  lay  delegates  from  the  native 
churches.  About  a  hundred  honorary  delegates  were  ad- 
mitted to  sit  and  deliberate  with  the  Association,  but  not  to 
vote.  There  are  as  yet  no  native  pastors  on  Hawaii.  Two 
preachers  received  license.  The  exercises,  continued  through 
a  week,  were  all  in  the  Hawaiian  tongue,  and  greatly  inter- 
ested the  native  members  and  spectators.*  These  organiza- 
tions, and  other  similar  ones  to  be  formed  on  the  other  islands, 
will  have  an  auspicious  bearing  on  the  native  pastorate,  and 
on  the  perpetuity  of  the  native  churches,  f 

NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

The  first  church  among  the  Cherokees  was  organized  at 
Brainerd,  during  the  visit  of  Mr.  Cornelius,  on  the  last  Sab- 
bath in  September,  1817.  Churches  were  subsequently 
formed  at  Carmel,  High  Tower,  "Willstown,  Candy's  Creek, 
and  Creek  Path.  The  churches  of  the  mission  were  con- 

*  Missionary  Herald,  1861,  pp.  65,  67. 

t  "  We  are  glad  to  inform  you  that  an  Association  or  Presbytery  has  been 
formed  in  each  of  the  four  large  islands  —  that  of  Maui  including  the  church 
in  Molokai."  —  Letter  of  June  1,  1861. 


302  THE  MISSIONS. 

nected  with  the  Union  Presbytery  of  East  Tennessee  and  the 
Presbytery  of  North  Alabama.  The  breaking  up  of  the  sta- 
tions within  the  chartered  limits  of  the  States  of  Georgia, 
Tennessee,  and  Alabama,  in  1838,  and  the  removal  of  the 
Cherokees  beyond  the  Mississippi,  of  course  broke  up  these 
churches.  The  missionaries,  in  reorganizing  churches  at 
Dwight,  Honey  Creek,  and  elsewhere,  after  the  removal, 
adopted  the  Congregational  rule,  which  continues  to  this  day. 
John  Huss,  who  was  ordained  as  an  evangelist  in  1833,  took 
the  pastoral  charge  of  the  church  at  Honey  Creek  in  1840, 
where  he  remained  till  his  death,  in  1858.  He  could  speak 
only  his  own  language,  but  showed  what  excellent  preachers 
and  pastors,  through  the  grace  of  God,  we  once  hoped  to  find 
among  the  Cherokees.  For  thirty-five  years  he  adorned  his 
Christian  profession,  "  walking  in  all  the  commandments  and 
ordinances  of  the  Lord  blameless."  The  only  other  ordained 
Cherokee  preacher  was  Stephen  Foreman,  who  studied  theol- 
ogy at  the  Union  and  Princeton  Seminaries,  and  was  licensed 
by  the  Union  Presbytery  in  1833,  and  by  the  same  ordained 
to  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  1835.  He  still  lives,  but  has 
been  chiefly  employed  as  a  translator  under  the  late  Dr. 
Worcester.  The  five  churches  connected  with  the  mission  in 
1859,  contained  two  himdred  and  forty-eight  members. 

The  first  church  among  the  Choctaws  was  organized  at 
Elliot,  March  28,  1819,  in  the  Indian  territory  east  of  the 
Mississippi.  It  consisted  at  first  of  only  the  ten  missionary 
brethren  and  sisters.  The  mission  has  since,  through  the 
divine  blessing,  taken  a  strong  religious  hold  upon  the  Choc- 
taws.  After  the  lapse  of  forty  years,  in  the  year  1859,  there 
were  twelve  Choctaw  churches  connected  with  the  mission, 
with  thirteen  hundred  and  sixty-two  members ;  and  the  ac- 
cessions to  the  church  in  that  year  were  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two.  The  churches  were  under  Presbyterian  rules,  and 
have  long  been  united  in  a  presbytery.  Their  geographical 
position,  both  east  and  west  of  the  Mississippi,  naturally  con- 
nected them  with  the  Presbyterian  Church ;  and  after  the 
division  of  that  Church,  the  Choctaw  churches  preferred  to 
be  in  connection  with  the  Old  School  bodv. 


THE   CHURCHES. 


303 


The  ecclesiastical  form  of  the  Dakota  and  Ojibwa  churches 
is  Presbyterian,  and  that  of  the  Seneca  and  Tuscarora  churches 
is  Congregational.  The  former  are  of  recent  date  ;  the  latter 
are  not,  but  the  materials  for  their  ecclesiastical  history  are 
not  at  hand.  Churches  were  doubtless  formed  at  Maiunee,  at 
Mackinaw,  among  the  Stockbridge  Indians,  and  Abenaquis. 
As  the  missions  were  not  of  long  continuance,  owing  to  the 
unsettled  condition  of  the  Indian  tribes,  it  is  presumed  that 
the  churches,  as  a  general  thing,  did  not  advance  beyond  their 
primitive  simplicity. 


TABULAR  VIEW  OF  THE  CHURCHES. 


MISSIONS. 

Churches. 

Is 

>  >> 
11 

r 

11 

la 

£§ 

Number  from 
tlw  bcgin'ng. 

1 

6 

15 

38 

7 

186 

40 

226 

1,277 

1,450 

3 

19 

119 

157 

1 

19 

51 

385 

401 

13 

69 

396 

466 

Madras  Mission,      

2 

11 

74 

5 

126 

Madura  Mission,      

28 

78 

1,012 

1,278 

Ceylon  Mission,       •    •    • 

9 

46 

457 

3 

13 

28 

35 

5 

126 

130 

23 

573 

14,413 

43,758 

1 

4 

4 

Cherokees,  (1859,)  

5 

248 

Choctaws,  (1859,)    

12 

132 

1,362 

2 

5 

91 

3 

27 

283 

Total,    

20,621 

CHAPTER   VII. 


SCHOOLS. 

Schools  in  Early  Stages  of  the  Missions.  —  COMMON  SCHOOLS.  Largest  Numerical  De- 
velopment. —  Sandwich  Islands.  —  India  Missions.  —  Whole  Number  of  Pupils.  — 
Value  of  the  Schools.  —  With  Heathen  Masters.  —  With  Christian  Masters. —  China. 
— North  American  Indians.  —  Western  Asia.  —  General  View. —  HIGHER  SCHOOLS. 
India. — Before  and  after  the  Introductory  Stages.  —  Tamil  People. —  Batticotta  Semi- 
nary.—  Oodooville  Female  School.—  Pasumalie  Seminary.  —  Madura  Female  School. 
— (English  Language. —  Higher  Vernacular  Education.  —  Schools  for  Small  Boys. — 
Schools  at  Ahmednuggur.  —  At  Bombay.  —  The  American  Mission  Institution.  —  In 
Syria.  —  Armenians.  —  Nestorians.  —  Choctaws  and  Cherokees.  —  The  Past  and  Pres- 
ent.—  Use  of  the  English  Language.  —  General  Results.  —  The  Board  preeminently 
concerned  in  Education. — The  Oahu  College.  —  Foreign  Youth  in  this  Country.  —  School 
at  Cornwall.  —  Great  Interest  awakened.  —  The  Disappointment.  —  Discontinuance.  — 
Greek  and  Armenian  Youth.  —  Result.  —  Foreign  Youth  to  be  educated  in  their  own 
Countries. 

THE  American  Board  has  gone  largely  into  education  as  a 
means  of  propagating  the  gospel,  especially  in  the  former  part 
of  the  half-century.  It  results  from  the  nature  of  the  foreign 
missionary  enterprise,  that  schools  will  be  more  prominent  at 
the  outset,  than  in  the  more  advanced  stages  of  progress. 
They  form  a  part  of  the  machinery  most  readily  put  in  motion, 
and  most  appreciated  by  the  heathen.  And  where  heathen 
teachers  are  employed,  it  is  possible  to  institute  schools  at 
once,  and  with  little  danger  of  opposition. 


COMMON  SCHOOLS. 

The  common  schools,  —  or  free  schools,  as  they  are  often 
called,  —  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  missionary  organization 
and  action,  are  subject  to  considerable  variety  and  fluctuation. 
Their  largest  numerical  development  has  generally  been  in 
the  earlier  stages  of  the  mission.  This  was  remarkably  the 
case  at  the  Sandwich  Islands.  In  1830  and  the  two  following 

(304) 


COMMON   SCHOOLS.  305 

years,  the  number  of  pupils  on  these  Islands  was  reported  for 
those  years  respectively,  in  round  numbers,  at  thirty-nine 
thousand,  forty-five  thousand,  and  fifty-three  thousand.  This 
was  before  the  great  religious  awakening,  which  commenced 
in  1837  Learning  to  read  was  easy,  with  their  simple  alpha- 
bet, and  it  seemed  to  form  a  part  of  the  great  national  revolu- 
tion. By  far  the  largest  portion  of  the  pupils  were  adults, 
who  attended  as  their  ordinary  occupations  would  permit. 
The  teachers  were  from  among  the  people,  and  gained  their 
knowledge  by  spending  a  few  months  at  the  station  schools, 
under  the  immediate  supervision  of  the  missionaries.  The 
number  of  these  teachers  in  1831  was  nine  hundred.  Their ' 
qualifications  were  extremely  moderate,  and  after  1832  the 
^chools^eclined  rapidly  for  want  of  teachers  able  to  instruct 
beyoml  the  mere  rudiments.  Yet  more  than  a  fourth  part  of 
the  eighty-five  thousand  Hawaiians  had  learned  to  read  the 
word  of  God ;  some  in  every  place  had  learned  to  write,  and 
some  to  use  the  elementary  principles  of  arithmetic.  The 
cheapness  of  this,  instruction  was  wonderful.  Not  a  dozen  of 
the  teachers  were  paid  any  thing  by  the  mission.  The  supply 
of  books  was  almost  the  only  expense,  and  even  these  were 
not  distributed  gratuitously ;  though,  for  want  of  a  circulating 
medium,  the  people  could  pay  for  them  only  with  the  products 
of  the  Islands,  or  by  their  labor.  A  reorganization  of  the 
schools  became  at  length  indispensable,  and  a  school  was  com- 
menced for  the  education  of  teachers.  The  number  of  pupils 
reported  in  the  common  schools  in  1837  was  little  more  than 
two  thousand,  the  greater  part  of  whom  were  probably  chil- 
dren. The  number  had  risen  in  1843  to  eighteen  thousand 
seven  hundred,  which  is  larger  than  any  number  since  reported. 
Fourjears  later,  the  Hawaiian  government  assumed  the  entire 
support  of  the  common  schools,  including  the  wages  of  the 
teachers,  and  have  continued  to  expend  some  thirty  thousand 
dollars  annually  for  the  free  schools,  the  high  school  at  Lahai- 
naluna,  (which  was  made  over  to  the  government  by  the  Board 
in  1849,*)  and  the  high  school  at  Honolulu  for  the  children 

*  Report  of  the  Board  for  1849,  pp.  198,  239. 
39 


306  THE  MISSIONS. 

of  chiefs.  The  Island  government  has  also  given  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  toward  the  endowment  of  the  Oahu  College,  now 
an  independent  institution,  which  the  Board  had  commenced 
at  Punahou,  near  Honolulu.  Aside  from  a  portion  of  the 
expenses  of  the  college  until  it  shall  have  completed  its 
endowment,  the  only  charge  for  education  at  the  Islands  now 
resting  on  the  American  Board  is  for  a  select  school  on  Hawaii,, 
and  for  another  on  Kauai.  An  effort  by  the  government  to 
introduce  the  study  of  the  English  language  into  some  of  its 
schools,  did  not  prove  successful. 

Next  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  most  remarkable  devel- 
opment of  common  schools,  in  connection  with  the  missions 
of  the  Board,  has  been  in  India.  This  class  of  schools  had 
reached  the  numerical  meridian  in  the  Mahratta  and  Ceylon 
missions,  just  as  the  Madura  mission  was  commencing  its 
career.  In  1831,  the  number  of  pupils  was  one  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  forty  in  the  Mahratta  mission,  and  in  1836 
it  was  six  thousand  an^thi^ty-five  in  the  .Ceylon  .mission.  The 
great  financial  crisis  of  1837  jabliged  the  latter  mission  to  send 
away  some  five  thousand  pupils ;  and  would  have  brought  a 
similar  catastrophe  upon  the  Mahratta  mission,  but  for  the 
interposition  of  English  residents,  who  generously  contributed 
two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  schools.  The 
largest  numbers  in  the  Mahratta  schools,  since  that  time,  were 
between  the  years  1844  and  1851 ;  in  the  Ceylon  schools, 
between  1841  and  1854 ;  and  in  the  Madura  schools,  between 
1838  and  1849.  The  pupils  in  the  Mahratta  schools  were  but 
half  as  many  in  1842  as  they  were  sixteen  years  before.  The 
number  in  the  Madura  schools  had  been  reduced  one  half  in 
1850,  as  compared  with  the  year  1841  ;  but  it  is  as  large  at 
the  present  time  as  it  was  ten  years  ago.  The  Ceylon  schools, 
though  containing  fewer  pupils,  in  1854,  by  some  thousands, 
than  eighteen  years  before,  had  numbered  four  thousand  for  the 
ten  preceding  years,  and  have  as  many  now  as  the  mission- 
aries, with  all  their  other  cares  and  labors,  are  able  to  super- 
intend efficiently. 


COMMON   SCHOOLS.  307 

The  whole  number  of  pupils  taught  in  the  free  schools  of 
these  three  missions  from  the  beginning  until  1860,  is  estimated 
at  seventy  thousand ;  namely,  twelve  thousand  in  the  Mah- 
ratta  mission,  thirty-three  thousand  in  the  Ceylon,  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  in_the  Madura.  The  character  and  value  of  the 
schools  are  best  known  to  the  members  of  the  several  missions. 
The  Mahratta  missions,  in  a  report  on  education  in  common 
schools,  adopted  in  1854,  gave  the  following  testimony  :  "  We 
can  not  point  to  a  single  case  of  conversion  from  among  alHhis^ 
numBer]  5Tfew  instances  of  conversion  have  occurred  among 
the  superintendents  and  teachers  of  these  schools,  and  these 
men  are  among  our  most  valuable  helpers  at  the  present  time. 
While  preaching  in  the  villages,  we  occasionally  meet  with 
those  who  were  formerly  pupils  in  these  schools.  Often  such 
persons  are  interested  and  attentive  hearers,  and  often  they  are 
among  the  abusers  of  us  and  our  work.  The  result  seems  to 
show,  that  these  schools  have  failed  of  accomplishing,  except 
to  a  very  slight  extent,  what  was  hoped  from  their  establish- 
ment, in  the  way  of  influencing  the  people,  and  gaining  them 
over  to  the  truth.  From  this  result  follows,  as  a  general  rule, 
the  inexpediency  of  employing  heathen  teachers  in  common 
schools.  The  main  ground  upon  which  such  schools  are  urged 
at  present  is,  that  they  are  a  means  of  communicating  with  the 
people,  of  forming  some  kind  of  connection  with  them,  of  get- 
ting a  congregation.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  in  most 
cases  the  missionary  can  secure  a  hearing  for  his  message  with- 
out the  aid  of  such  schools." 

The  Ceylon  mission  stated,  in  their  report  on  the  subject  in 
1855,  that  about_  thirty  cases  were  recollected  of  hopeful  con- 
version in  the  common  schools ;  but  that  the  children  usually 
left  the  school  at  so  early  an  age  as  not  to  justify  the  expecta- 
tion of  any  considerable  number  of  conversions.  Of  heathen 
schoolmasters,  —  employed  because  so  few  Christian  masters 
could  be  had,  — -J^ghtjjiad  joined  the  church,  and  twenty-five 
of  these  had  shown  by  their  subsequent  conduct  that  they  were 
unworthy  members.  People  assembled  in  considerable  num- 
ber, and  with  some  regularity,  in  many  of  the  school  bunga- 


308  THE  MISSIONS. 

lows ;  but  it  was  not  certainly  owing  to  the  children's  being 
taught  there,  for  the  people  often  assembled  readily  in  many 
other  places.  Moreover,  the  schools  had  depreciated  in  value, 
because  the  parents  were  less  willing  to  spare  the  children  from 
their  gardens  and  fields.  "  Hence,"  it  is  said,  "  we  have  a 
succession  of  little  children  in  our  schools,  who  can  not,  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  be  expected  to  receive  as  much  benefit 
as  those  who  are  older."  * 

Similar  causes  have  operated  in  the  Madura  mission.  "  When 
there  are  several  children  in  a  family,"  says  the  report  of  the 
mission  in  1855, "  one  will  be  sent  to  tend  cattle,  another  sheep ; 
others,  who  are  able  to  labor,  will  accompany  the  parents  into 
the  field,  while  those  who  are  too  young  for  this  will  be  left  at 
the  house  to  watch  the  infant.  Our  people  are  not  all  so  poor 
as  this,  but  many  are.  In  these  facts  we  see  a  sufficient  reason 
why  our  schools  have  declined.  When  first  commenced,  nearly 
all  the  children  attended  ;  but  the  parents  soon  discovered 
that  they  had  undertaken  more  than  they  were  able  to  perform, 
and  withdrew  them." 

The  practice  of  employing  heathen  schoolmasters  had  nearly 
ceased  previous  to  the  year  1855.  At  the  outset  of  the  mis- 
sions, if  none  such  had  been  employed,  there  could  have  been 
no  mission  common  schools.  The  value  of  their  service  was 
doubtless  over-estimated  at  the  time.  The  schools  thus  taught 
were  in  a  degree  delusive  both  to  the  missionary  and  his  sup- 
porters. It  was  not  unlike  employing  infidel  schoolmasters  in 
Christian  lands.  The  religious  value  of  the  education  thus 
received,  or  of  the  influence  of  these  masters  on  the  whole, 
admits  of  considerable  doubt.  The  large  houses  of  worship 
in  Jaffna,  and  in  certain  parts  of  the  Madura  district,  once 
filled  every  Sabbath  by  the  pupils  of  those  congregated  schools, 
are  monuments  of  the  power  of  that  system  to  create  congre- 
gations for  the  time  being,  and  of  the  unreasonableness  of 
trusting  to  it  for  stated  congregations  after  the  pay  of  the 
teachers  was  withdrawn.  Yet  the  experience  thus  gained  was 

*  Mission  Report,  1855. 


COM3ION   SCHOOLS.  309 

worth  what  it  cost.  Were  it  not  for  that  experience,  schools 
under  the  instruction  of  heathen  masters  would  perhaps  be 
thought  even  now  a  deserving  branch  of  the  missionary  work. 
Nor  should  we  forget  that  in  the  early  stages  of  modern  mis- 
sions, when  the  good  seed  of  the  word  had  not  begun  to 
yield  its  harvests  of  converts,  such  schools  exerted  an  impor- 
tant influence  among  the  churches  at  home.  The  teaching 
of  so  many  thousands  of  heathen  youth  to  read  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  to  repeat  the  leading  facts  in  the  gospel  history, 
was  itself  a  result ;  it  was  a  success ;  and  being  highly  valued, 
it  did  much  to  sustain  and  extend  the  missionary  spirit  in 
the  churches.  And  though  more  excellent  ways  of  employing 
funds  can  now  be  pursued,  it  is  presumed  that  those  schools 
will  hereafter  appear  to  have  been  a  labor  by  no  means  lost 
upon  the  native  mind  of  India. 

Common  schools  taught  by  Christians  must  needs  be  useful 
every  where,  and  are  to  be  employed  to  the  extent  of  the  avail- 
able funds  for  that  purpose,  and  of  the  available  superintend- 
ence ;  first,  for  the  children  of  native  Christians,  and  then  for 
heathen  children.  Considering,  however,  the  other  increasing 
demands  on  the  missionary  treasury,  the  Board  has  of  late 
years  found  itself  much  restricted  in  the  educational  depart- 
ment. 

The  ability  to  read  among  the  males  in  China  is  extensive, 
and  there  is  not  yet  much  access  to  the  females.  There  is 
little  to  be  said,  therefore,  concerning  missionary  schools 
among  the  Chinese.  An  inquiry  into  the  history  of  the  com- 
mon schools  in  the  missions  of  Western  Asia,  would  show, 
that  the  number  of  pupils  has  there  steadily  increased  to  the 
present  time  —  from  six  hundred  in  1837  to  sixteen  hundred 
and  ninety-five  in  1852,  and  five  thousand  five  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  in  1860.  Perhaps  the  reason  of  this  is,  that  the 
schools  among  the  Armenians  have  been  mainly  restricted  to 
the  children  of  Protestants  and  of  those  who  were  inclined  to 
the  Protestant  faith,  and  so  have  grown  continuously  with  the 
progress  of  the  reformation.  Schools  have  been  prominent 


310  THE  MISSIONS. 

among  the  efforts  to  reclaim  the  Indian  tribes  in  North  Amer- 
ica. For  a  long  course  of  years,  the  pupils  in  the  schools 
among  the  aborigines  numbered  from  six  to  eight  hundred; 
but  with  a  decline  after  1856. 

Taking  a  general  view  of  common-school  education  in  the 
missions,  it  appears  that  the  highest  number  of  pupils  was  in 
the  year  1832,  when  it  was  sixty  thousand ;  of  whom  fifty- 
three  thousand  were  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  five  thou- 
sand five  hundred  in  the  Ceylon  and  Mahratta  missions.  The 
smallest  number  since  that  time  was  in  1837,  when  it  was 
twelve  thousand.  The  largest  subsequent  number  was  twenty- 
nine  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty ;  and  this  was  in 
1846.  The  present  number  is  eighteen  thousand,  including 
the  free  schools  supported  by  the  government  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  The  whole  number  of  pupils  in  the  common  schools 
from  the  beginning,  is  believed  to  have  exceeded  two  hundred 
thousand. 

THE  HIGHER  SCHOOLS. 


The  higher  schools,  for  the  most  part,  have  been  boarding 
schools.  Most  of  the  earlier  pupils  in  the  Ceylon  boarding 
schools  (which  were  in  operation  a  long  time  before  those 
of  any  other  missions  of  the  Board  beyond  sea)  were  hea- 
then youth.  The  object  of  these  schools,  as  well  as  of  the 
similar  early  boarding  schools  in  the  Mahratta  and  Madura 
missions,  was  twofold :  first,  the  conversion  of  the  pupils,  and 
secondly,  the  procuring  of  native  helpers.  As  the  missions 
passed  beyond  their  introductory  stages,  there  was  an  increase 
in  the  demand  for  native  Christian  helpers,  and  the  higher 
schools  were  progressively  modified,  becoming  more  and  more 
of  the  nature  of  training-  institutions  —  for  schoolmasters, 
catechists,  preachers,  and  pastors.  The  exigencies  of  the 
work  and  the  state  of  the  funds  both  required  this.  The 
change,  however,  was  gradual,  rendering  the  schools  more  and 
more  directly  and  effectively  missionary  institutions. 

The  earlier  boarding  schools  were  composed  of  small  boys, 


HIGHER  SCHOOLS.  311 

isolated  from  heathen  friends  and  from  idolatrous  festivals. 
The  average  number  of  the  pupils  in  the  Ceylon  schools  was 
eighty-five.  These  schools  were  superseded  in  1831,  or  soon 
after,  by  the  English  Preparatory  Schools,  which  had  no  board- 
ing pupils.  The  main  design  of  these  schools  was  to  pre- 
pare pupils  for  the  Batticotta  Seminary,  and  the  instruction 
was  therefore  both  in  English  and  Tamil,  and  for  the  most 
part  by  Christian  teachers.  The  English  schools,  with  an 
average  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  pupils,  were  continued 
twenty-five  years,  and  ceased  to  be  sustained  by  the  mission 
only  when  the  Batticotta  Seminary  was  made  more  exclu- 
sively a  Training  and  Theological  School,  with  its  studies  in 
the  vernacular  language. 

The  Batticotta  Seminary  was  instituted  in  the  year  1823, 
and  continued  in  operation  thirty-one  years.  The  Rev.  Dan- 
iel Poor  was  its  principal  during  the  first  thirteen  years. 
Being  familiar  with  the  Tamil  language,  his  instructions, 
especially  those  of  a  religious  nature,  were  mostly  in  that 
language.  During  Mr.  Poor's  connection  with  the  institution, 
great  prominence  was  given  to  religious  instruction  in  the  ver- 
nacular, and  the  number  hopefully  converted  and  gathered 
into  the  church  was  greater  than  during  any  other  period  of 
equal  length  in  the  history  of  the  mission.  Great  efforts 
were  made  by  him  touring  mathematical  and  astronomical 
studies  into  conflict  with  the  fallacies  of  Hindoo  science.  The 
Rev.  H.  R.  Hoisington  was  principal  from  1836  to  1841,  and 
again  from  1844  to  1849.  Though  in  delicate  health  during 
much  of  the  time,  he  was  eminently  devoted  to  his  profession, 
and  labored  earnestly  to  make  the  Seminary  subsidiary  to  the 
great  purposes  of  the  mission.  The  study  and  use  of  the 
English  language  had  now  become  so  prevalent  and  absorb- 
ing as  to  retard  the  acquisition  of  the  Tamil  by  new  mission- 
aries; and  those  who  had  the  care  of  the  institution  after 
Dr.  Poor,  are  said  not  to  have  been  able  to  communicate 
'readily  with  the  students,  except  in  the  English  language.* 

*  Report  of  the  Mission,  1855. 


312  THE  MISSIONS. 

In  the  year  1844,  the  instruction  in  the  biblical  department 
was  assigned  to  the  Rev.  Samuel  S.  Whittelsey ;  who,  it  was 
hoped,  from  his  knowledge  of  the  vernacular,  would  be  able 
to  give  greater  prominence  to  biblical  instruction,  and  to  create 
an  enthusiasm  in  that  direction  which  would  check  the  ten- 
dencies in  favor  of  English  and  science.  These  fond  hopes 
were  disappointed  in  the  early  removal  of  Mr.  "Whittelsey  by 
death.  Others,  who  were  afterward  connected  with  the  insti- 
tution, did  what  they  could  to  bring  the  truth  to  bear  upon 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  students,  and,  by  the  blessing  of 
God,  their  labors  were  not  in  vain.* 

The  whole  expense  of  the  pupils  was  for  a  long  time  borne 
by  the  mission  ;  but  subsequent  to  the  year  1848,  all  who 
were  able  were  required  to  pay  for  their  board.  An  unfore- 
seen result  of  this  requirement  was  the  introduction  of  a  class 
of  students  from  wealthy  families,  whose  sole  object  was  to  fit 
themselves  for  government  service,  or  some  lucrative  post  in 
agriculture  or  commerce.  It  was  the  prevalent  opinion  in  the 
mission,  before  the  visit  of  the  deputation  in  1855,  that  it  was 
time  to  cease  any  longer  cultivating  the  excessive  passion 
among  the  natives  for  the  English  language  ;  and  it  was  also 
the  general  opinion  at  that  time,  that  there  was  not  sufficient 
numerical  force  in  the  mission  to  make  the  Seminary  what  it 
needed  to  be,  either  on  the  existing  basis  or  on  any  other. 
The  mission  therefore  made  certain  important  changes  in  the 
institution.  They  excluded  the  English  language  from  the 
regular  course  of  instruction  ;  reduced  the  number  of  students 
to  the  demands  for  mission  service ;  made  the  board  and 
instruction  gratuitous ;  shortened  the  period  of  residence ;  and 
decided  to  receive  none  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  none 
but  Christians  or  the  sons  of  Christians.  After  a  brief  sus- 
pension, the  institution  resumed  operations  as  a  Theological 
and  Training  School,  and  nearly  on  the  basis  above  described. 
As  had  been  expected,  the  natives  continued  to  prosecute  their 
studies  of  the  English  language,  at  their  own  cost,  with  a  view 

»  Report  of  the  Mission,  1855. 


HIGHER  SCHOOLS.  313 

to  secular  advantages,  and  with  no  apparent  diminution  in 
numbers  —  an  English  high  school  having  been  formed  at  Bat- 
ticotta  under  competent  native  instruction,  with  English  pre- 
paratory schools  in  the  villages.  This  was  an  important  step  in 
the  direction  of  self-sustaining  institutions  ;  and  it  is  a  striking 
evidence  of  the  hold  Christianity  had  obtained  in  Jaifua,  that 
all  these  were,  and  still  are,  decidedly  Christian  schools. 

The  number  of  graduates  and  students  on  the  catalogue  of 
the  Batticotta  Seminary,  in  the  year  1855,  was  six  hundred 
and  seventy,  of  whom  four  hundred  and  fifty-four  were  then 
living.  At  that  time  the  mission  had  eighty-one  of  these  in 
its  employ,  and  thirty-one  were  in  the  employ  of  other  mis- 
sionary societies.  Of  the  rest,  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
were  in  government  service  in  Ceylon  and  India  ;  one  hundred 
and  eleven  in  different  kinds  of  secular  business  on  the  island 
and  continent ;  and  seventy-three  were  not  reported.  In  the 
religious  statistics  of  the  institution,  three  hundred  and  fifty- 
two  are  recorded  as  having  been  church  members.  Deducting 
ninety-two  excommunicated  persons,  and  sixty-four  who  had 
died,  there  were  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  still  living  in  full 
membership  of  the  Christian  church.  The  present  helpers  of 
the  mission  and  native  pastors  were  nearly  all  educated  at  the 
Batticotta  Seminary. 

Correlative  with  the  Batticotta  Seminary  was  the  Oodooville 
Female  Boarding  School,  established  in  1824.  It  was  designed 
to  impart  a  careful  Christian  education  to  a  select  number  of 
females,  under  circumstances  that  would  exclude  them  from 
heathenish  influences,  and  be  most  hopeful  for  their  moral 
and  intellectual  improvement.  By  this  means  more  suitable 
and  acceptable  companions  would  be  provided  for  the  young 
men  educated  in  the  Mission  Seminary.*  The  school  was 
alternately  under  the  care  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  .Miron  TVinslow 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Levi  Spaulding  until  1833,  when  it  came 
permanently  under  the  care  of  the  latter,  who  still  sustain  a 
parental  relation  to  the  members  and  graduates  of  the  school. 

*  Report  of  the  Mission,  1855. 

40 


314  THE  MISSIONS. 

The  influence  of  the  Oodooville  school  has  been  excellent. 
Many  Christian  families,  scattered  over  the  province,  the 
island,  and  the  continent,  exerting  a  silent  but  important 
influence,  testify  to  its  usefulness.  Tokens  of  God's  special 
blessing  have  been  granted  in  frequent  revivals,  and  in  the 
uniform  prosperity  of  the  institution.*  More  than  two  hun- 
dred had  left  the  school  prior  to  the  year  1855,  of  whom  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  were  members  of  the  church.  The 
studies  were  in  the  English  and  Tamil  languages. 

In  1855,  changes  were  made  in  the  school  corresponding 
with  those  in  the  Batticotta  Seminary.  The  age  for  admis- 
sion was  raised ;  the  length  of  residence  was  reduced  ;  the 
studies  were  restricted  to  the  vernacular  language  ;  and  the 
pupils,  somewhat  less  in  number,  were  to  be  either  Christians 
themselves,  or  from  families  at  least  nominally  Christian; 
with  such  occasional  exceptions  as  should  be  deemed  advisable 
by  the  mission.  With  these  modifications,  the  Oodooville 
Female  Boarding  School  is  now  in  successful  operation,  with 
thirty-nine  pupils.f 

The  boarding  schools  in  Ceylon  illustrate  those  of  the 
Madura  and  Mahratta  missions  in  their  earlier  stages.  The 
English  language,  as  well  as  the  vernacular,  entered  into  their 
course  of  instruction.  This  was  true  of  the  Pasumalie  Sem- 
inary, near  the  city  of  Madura,  established  in  1842,  and  of  the 
Female  Boarding  School  at  Madura,  formed  in  1846  by  the 
union  of  two  that  had  been  only  a  short  time  in  existence. 
Some  decisive  action  of  the  Madura  mission  adverse  to  caste, 
in  1847,  greatly  reduced  these  schools  for  a  time,  but  exerted 
a  permanently  healthful  influence  upon  them.  It  was  soon 
after  determined  by  the  mission,  that  the  exclusive  object  of 
the  Seminary  is.  to  raise  up  a  native  ministry,  and  that  the 
course  of  instruction  ought  to  be  mainly  in  Tamil,  the  English 
language  being  studied  as  a  classic  but  two  hours  a  day. 

In  the  year  1855,  the  Madura  mission  resolved  to  exclude 

*  Report  of  the  Mission,  1855.  f  Annual  Report,  1860,  p.  110. 


HIGHER  SCHOOLS.  315 

the  English  language  from  the  Female  Boarding  School,  and 
also  from  the  Pasumalie  Seminary,  as  a  medium  of  instruc- 
tion, in  all  cases  where  proper  text-books  in  Tamil  could  be  ob- 
tained. Catechists  of  approved  talent  and  piety  were  admitted 
for  a  short  course  of  study  preparatory  to  the  pastoral  office. 
Experience  has  since  proved  the  advantages  of  a  purely  ver- 
nacular training  in  a  mission  sent  to  people  in  the  lowest  walks 
of  life.  The  boarding  schools  for  small  boys  in  this  mission 
were  brought  to  a  close  in  1858. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Ballantine,  in  a  review  of  the  twenty-five 
years  of  his  missionary  life  at  Ahmednuggur  and  its  surround- 
ing country,  speaks  as  follows :  — 

"  In  1836,  a  boarding  school  for  heathen  boys  was  put  in 
operation,  and  soon  after  a  boarding  school  for  heathen  girls. 
They  continued  several  years,  but  not  much  fruit  was  realized 
from  these  labors.  In  1852,  our  educational  efforts  took  a 
different  direction.  The  number  of  Christian  children  had 
become  quite  large,  and  it  became  necessary  for  us  to  provide 
means  for  their  education.  We  were  anxious  also  to  provide 
Christian  teachers  for  schools  in  the  villages,  and  to  prepare 
catechists  for  the  work  of  reading  the  Scriptures  and  explain- 
ing them  to  their  countrymen.  We  determined  to  devote  our 
attention  principally  to  the  education  of  Christian  children, 
and  to  preparing  them  for  the  work  for  which  there  appeared 
to  be  such  a  loud  call.  We  now  have  in  Ahmednuggur  a 
school  containing  twenty-five  boys,  mostly  professed  Chris- 
tians, drawn  from  all  the  churches  in  the  mission,  who  are 
preparing  to  be  teachers  arid  catechists ;  and  a  school  contain- 
ing more  than  sixty  girls,  many  of  whom  are  members  of  the 
church,  who,  we  trust,  will  be  fitted  to  become  wives  of  teachers 
and  catechists.  We  have  also  schools  in  different  places, 
taught  by  young  men  and  young  women,  who  have  been 
trained  in  these  schools  at  Ahmednuggur ;  and  in  them  are 
'collected  the  children,  not  only  of  Christians,  but  also  of  all 
who  are  favorable  to  Christianity,  and  of  any  who  will  send 
their  children  to  be  taught  Christian  truth.  The  teachers  of 


316  THE  MISSIONS. 

these  schools  are  all  Christians.  This  is  a  great  advance  upon 
the  system  put  in  operation  twenty-five  years  ago,  when  we 
had  no  Christian  teachers.  We  have  also,  now,  a  class  of  ten 
young  men  studying  for  the  ministry.  These  are  engaged, 
during  several  mouths  of  the  year,  in  giving  religious  instruc- 
tion in  the  villages."  *  The  boarding  school  for  heathen  boys, 
mentioned  above,  was  closed  in  1851. 

A  boarding  school  for  females,  collected  and  superintended 
by  Mrs.  Hume,  at  Bombay,  was  discontinued  at  the  close  of 
1854,  in  consequence  of  her  return  to  the  United  States.  The 
average  number  of  pupils,  for  the  last  eight  years,  was  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five,  all  born  in  the  country,  but  not  exclu- 
sively Hindoos ;  and  the  school  was  in  part  sustained  by  dona- 
tions received  in  India.  Eleven  of  the  pupils  were  received 
into  the  church  during  ten  years,  and  several  are  now  m  sta- 
tions of  usefulness. 

.  Earnest  representations  were  received  by  the  Prudential 
Committee,  at  the  close  of  1853  and  early  in  1854,  from  their 
brethren  in  Western  India,  in  favor  of  establishing  an  expen- 
sive school  at  Bombay,  like  those  of  the  Scotch  and  English 
Societies  already  existing  in  that  and  other  large  cities  of 
India,  in  which  the  English  language  should  be  taught,  and 
made  the  chief  medium  of  instruction.  The  Committee  did 
not  see  their  way  then  clear  to  go  into  precisely  this  class 
of  institutions ;  but  they  authorized  the  Bombay  mission  to 
commence  a  high  school,  in  which  the  vernacular  language 
should  be  the  chief  medium  of  instruction,  especially  in  the 
inculcation  of  religious  truth,  the  annual  expense  not  to  ex- 
ceed fifteen  hundred  dollars.  These  resolutions  were  passed 
May  2,  1854  ;  but  the  brethren  at  Bombay  felt  unable  to  wait 
for  the  action  of  the  Committee,  and  opened  the  school  on  their 
proposed  plan  in  June,  1854.  It  was  called  the  American 
Mission  Institution,  and  the  number  of  pupils  rose  to  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five.  The  annual  expense,  not  including  the 
support  of  the  principal,  was  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty- 

*  Missionary  Herald  for  June,  1861. 


HIGHER   SCHOOLS.  317 

two  dollars.  The  deputation  were  authorized  by  the  Pruden- 
tial Committee  to  sanction  such  an  institution,  should  they  be 
satisfied  that  there  were  conclusive  reasons  for  it.  Such  rea- 
sons not  appearing,  the  school  was  not  adopted  among  the 
institutions  of  the  Board. 

As  the  brethren  in  the  Mahratta  missions  had  before  recom- 
mended the  establishment  of  such  a  school  at  Bombay,  it  is 
proper  that  they  should  state  the  reasons  which  afterward 
induced  them,  upon  a  broader  view  of  the  subject,  to  advise  its 
discontinuance.  They  were  as  follows :  — 

Such  an  institution,  when  founded,  must  be  modeled  with 
reference  not  only  to  its  results  on  the  mission  with  which  it  is 
immediately  connected,  but  also  with  reference  to  the  general 
policy  and  plans  of  the  Board,  of  whose  system  of  operations 
it  forms  a  part.  What  would  be  expedient  and  highly  desira- 
ble, viewed  only  in  reference  to  a  particular  station,  may  be 
inexpedient  on  the  whole.  The  following  considerations  seem 
to  us  to  weigh  against  the  present  high  school  at  Bombay,  and 
to  render  it  undesirable  that  it  should  be  continued  on  its 
present  basis. 

1.  The  English  language  is  made,  to  too  great  an  extent, 
the  medium  of  communicating  instruction.     Experience  has 
seemed  to  show  that  such  schools  are  not  the  most  efficient 
instruments  in  forwarding  the  great  work  of  missions  —  that 
of  making  known  the  gospel  to  the  heathen,  and  saving  souls. 
The  vernacular  of  any  people  is  believed  to  be  the  most  suita- 
ble language  in  which  to  communicate  truth,  and  through 
which  to  affect  the  heart.     Schools  in  which  the  vernacular  is 
the  grand  medium  of  instruction,  and  the  English,  if  intro- 
duced, is  only  taught  as  a  classic,  seem  to  be  founded  on  the 
best  basis,  and  to  promise  and  produce  the  best  results. 

2.  The  expense  of  such  a  school  as  that  at  Bombay  is  an 
objection  to  continuing  it.     It  must  be  able  to  compete  with 
other  schools  of  a  similar  character  at  Bombay,  or  it  can  not 
•be  successfully  maintained.     To  do  this,  it  must  have  those 
advantages  and  appurtenances  which  money  alone  can  procure. 
It  does  not  appear  that  the  present  expense  can  be  essentially 


318  THE  MISSIONS. 

reduced,  consistently  with  making  the  school  what  it  should 
be  in  order  to  answer  the  ends  for  which  it  was  established. 
The  funds  of  the  Board  are  limited ;  they  are  not  sufficient  to 
carry  forward  all  operations  that  would  seem  desirable  or 
highly  useful.  There  must,  consequently,  be  a  choice  of  fields, 
and  in  each  field  a  choice  of  means.  If  there  are  two  kinds 
of  labor  which  promise  equally  well  in  all  other  respects,  the 
selection  must  be  made  with  reference  to  economy.  It  is 
known  that  such  high  schools  are  among  the  most  expensive 
operations  undertaken  by  the  mission  Boards ;  and  with  the 
present  amount  of  funds,  and  a  choice  of  the  means  to  be  em- 
ployed, it  does  not  appear  that  a  due  regard  to  economy  would 
warrant  the  necessary  expenditure  for  sustaining  such  a  school 
at  Bombay. 

3.  The  influence  of  such  schools  on  other  mission  fields  is 
undesirable.  If  the  High  School  at  Bombay  is  continued, 
there  are  other  missions  of  the  Board  which  will  feel  that  they 
have  equal  claims  to  be  allowed  such  an  institution.  It  will 
be  impossible  to  convince  them  that  there  are  good  reasons  for 
allowing  such  a  school  in  one  large  city,  and  not  in  another. 
Thus  the  decision  in  respect  to  the  institution  involves,  prac- 
tically, a  decision  in  respect  to  several  other  places  where  the 
same  want  exists.  It  becomes,  in  fact,  a  question  of  mission 
policy.  Shall  a  large  part  of  the  funds  be  appropriated  to 
maintain  these  expensive  English  schools  in  the  different  fields 
occupied  by  the  Board  ?  The  question  is  not  one  on  which 
there  is  no  experience  to  guide  us.  The  experiment  has  been 
tried  elsewhere,  under  the  most  favorable  auspices,  and  the 
results,  if  not  actually  disastrous,  have  at  least  proved  unsat- 
isfactory. The  system  seems  to  be  a  forced,  artificial  one,  and 
produces  artificial  fruits.  In  view  of  these  facts,  it  does  not 
seem  desirable  to  make  it  a  part  of  our  mission  policy ;  and 
we  think  the  institution  at  Bombay  should  not  be  made  an 
exception  to  the  general  policy  of  the  mission.* 

The  mission  in  Syria  commenced  a  high  school  for  training 

*  Report  of  the  Missions,  1854. 


HIGHER  SCHOOLS.  819 

native  helpers  in  the  year  1836,  and  closed  it  in  1842.  The 
English  language  was  taught  in  the  school,  and  when  the  war 
with  Mohammed  Ali  brought  the  English  forces  to  the  Syrian 
shore,  the  officers  needed  dragomans,  and  the  pupils  were 
drawn  away,  and  to  a  great  extent  demoralized.  When  the 
present  Seminary  was  opened,  in  1846,  at  Abeih  on  Lebanon, 
it  was  on  the  basis  of  almost  wholly  excluding  the  English 
language,  and  of  preserving,  as  far  as  possible,  the  Oriental 
manners  and  customs  among  the  students.  And  it  was  on  the 
same  principle  that  the  Female  Boarding  School  has  been  lately 
revived,  and  placed  at  the  Suk  el  Ghurb  on  the  mountain, 
under  the  care  of  two  ladies  from  this  country.  The  former 
school  was  at  Beirut,  and  excellent  in  its  kind. 

The  mission  for  the  Armenians  has  had  two  processes  for 
training  its  native  ministry.  The  first  is  thus  described  in  a 
report  adopted  at  Constantinople  in  1855 :  "  There  is  one 
class  that  will  enter  the  work  without  any  extended  course  of 
preparatory  study.  But  they  should  be  men  of  earnest  piety, 
and  good  judgment,  and  well  instructed  in  Bible  doctrines. 
Almost  every  missionary  station  will  produce  some  such  men, 
and  no  missionary  can  do  a  better  work  than  to  prepare  them, 
to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  for  the  ministry  of  the  word.  This 
preparation,  however,  will  be  partial.  They  will  remain  in 
their  own  community,  will  maintain  their  native  habits  of 
living,  and  need  have  no  connection  with  the  family  of  the 
missionary.  It  will  be  somewhat  like  taking  the  strong  artisan, 
and  preparing  him,  by  a  few  days'  training,  for  the  exigencies 
of  a  great  campaign.  Too  great  reliance  must  not  be  placed 
upon  these.  They  will  be  like  the  elders  ordained  by  the 
apostles  in  every  city,  but  probably  far  inferior  in  spiritual  and 
intellectual  attainments.  They  will  often  make  mistakes,  will 
sometimes  be  found  incompetent;  but  still  Christ  will  be 
preached,  and  his  truth,  though  committed  to  such  imperfect 
instruments,  will  triumph,  that  the  excellency  of  the  power 
may  be  of  God,  and  not  of  man." 

The  other  process  is  exemplified  in  the  Bebek  Seminary, 
commenced  in  1840 ;  in  the  Theological  School  commenced 


320  THE  MISSIONS. 

at  Tocat  a  few  years  since,  and,  in  consequence  of  the  burning 
of  the  mission  premises,  removed  from  thence  to  Kharput  in 
1859 ;  and  in  the  Theological  School  recently  commenced  in 
the  Central  mission  to  Turkey.  The  Bebek  Seminary  is  at 
the  metropolis,  in  the  center  of  Mohammedan  civilization,  and 
embraces  a  liberal  course  of  study,  including  the  English 
language  and  its  sources  of  knowledge.  The  plan  of  the  school 
at  Kharput  embraces  four  years  of  study,  with  a  long  winter 
vacation  for  evangelical  labors  in  the  villages.  A  female 
boarding  school  has  been  for  some  years  in  operation  in  Con- 
stantinople, and  there  is  also  one  of  recent  date  at  Aintab ; 
both  taught  by  females  from  the  United  States. 

Nowhere  have  the  higher  schools  been  more  signally  blessed 
with  hopeful  conversions,  than  among  the  Nestorians.  That 
for  males  was  commenced  in  1836,  and  the  one  for  females  in 
1838.  Two  thirds  of  those  who  have  been  educated  in  the 
male  seminary  give  hopeful  evidence  of  piety.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  an  equal  portion  educated  at  the  female  sem- 
inary. A  large  portion  of  the  educated  young  men  are  preach- 
ers of  the  gospel,  or  teachers  in  the  schools ;  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  pious  graduates  of  the  female  seminary  have 
become  wives  of  those  missionary  helpers.  Both  of  these 
institutions  have  been  signally  favored  with  revivals  of 
religion.  The  instruction  has  been  almost  wholly  in  the 
native  tongue. 

The  boarding  schools  among  the  American  Indians  have  all 
had  a  peculiar  nature  from  the  beginning,  owing  to  the  cir- 
cumstances and  character  of  the  people  for  whom  they  were 
designed. 

The  first  schools  among  the  Cherokee  and  Choctaw  Indians 
were  for  boarding  pupils.  While  the  Choctaws  were  east  of 
the  Mississippi,  there  were  among  them  four  large  schools  of 
this  description.  After  their  removal  westward,  four  female 
boarding  schools  were  instituted.  One  of  these,  at  Good 
Water,  was  transferred,  in  1854,  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  pupils  east  of  the 


HIGHER   SCHOOLS.  321 

Mississippi  were  about  one  hundred  and  seventy,  one  third 
being  females.  West  of  the  river,  nearly  all  were  females, 
numbering  one  hundred  and  thirty.  The  boarding  pupils  in 
the  Choctaw  schools,  from  the  beginning,  may  have  been  two 
thousand  ;  there  were  not  so  many  among  the  Cherokees. 

The  remarks  that  follow  upon  the  character  and  value  of 
the  schools,  are  founded  substantially  upon  the  testimony  of 
one  of  the  oldest  missionaries,  and  relate  to  the  recent  Choc- 
taw  schools.  As  schools  for  the  cultivation  of  truth  and 
piety,  the  hopes  of  their  founders  have  not  been  fully  real- 
ized. The  schools  deriving  nearly  five  sixths  of  their  sup- 
port from  the  national  annuities,  the  missionaries  had  but 
little  influence  in  the  selection  of  pupils,  and  were  often 
obliged  to  continue  those  in  school  who  were  an  injury  to  the 
others.  The  object,  with  most  of  the  parents,  was  not  the 
spiritual  good  of  their  children,  but  their  social  and  material 
elevation ;  and  it  was  a  remark  of  Mr.  Evarts,  that  the  patrons 
of  the  missions  were  impatient  for  the  civilization  of  the 
Indians,  and  would  not  give  them  time.  The  missions  were 
constrained  to  adopt  a  kind  of  hot-bed  process.  Large  annui- 
ties, always  disastrous  in  their  effect  upon  Indians,  had  been 
settled  upon  them  by  the  United  States  in  return  for  lands 
which  had  been  ceded  ;  and  as  ample  reserves  from  these 
funds  had  been  made  for  schools,  it  seemed  desirable  that  they 
should  be  under  the  control  of  religious  men.  This  was  the 
inducement  to  missionaries  and  missionary  Boards  to  take 
charge  of  them  ;  and  the  schools,  under  such  auspices,  and 
with  such  means  at  command,  were  led  to  aim  at  a  literary 
character  too  high  for  the  actual  civilization  of  the  Indians. 
Had  the  Choctaws,  for  instance,  been  sufficiently  isolated  to 
have  retained  the  use  of  their  own  language,  and  to  have  used 
none  but  the  vernacular  in  the  schools,  it  would  have  been 
better  for  their  moral  and  religious  interests.  "With  few 
exceptions,  those  who  acquired  most  knowledge  of  the  Eng- 
lish-language were  furthest  from  embracing  the  gospel.  The 
tendency  was  to  elevate  them  so  far  above  their  parents, 
and  the  mass  of  their  people,  that  "  they  became  vain  in 
41 


322  THE  MISSIONS. 

their  imaginations,  and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened." 
Intelligence  and  civilization  were  advanced,  and  the  schools 
were  productive  of  much  general  improvement;  but  it  was 
found,  with  some  happy  exceptions,  that  those  who  remained 
longest  at  them  were  most  headstrong  and  ungovernable. 
Could  the  schools  have  been  strictly  missionary,  with  a  few 
select  youth  of  both  sexes  training  with  special  reference  to 
their  becoming  teachers  and  preachers,  the  result  might  have 
been  more  favorable  as  regards  these  objects,  and  the  labor 
and  expense  would  have  been  far  less.  Yet,  as  it  was,  quite  a 
number  of  Choctaw  men,  who  for  years  have  had  a  leading 
influence  in  the  nation,  were  indebted  to  these  schools,  wholly 
or  in  part,  for  their  education.  This  is  true  of  four  persons, 
who,  at  different  times,  have  held  the  highest  national  offices ; 
of  the  three  candidates  for  the  office  of  principal  chief  in  a 
late  election ;  of  the  two  native  pastors,  and  three  of  the  four 
licentiates  in  the  churches  connected  with  the  mission ;  and 
of  two  of  the  supreme  judges  among  the  Choctaws,  the  national 
attorney,  and  two  district  attorneys.  It  should  be  added,  that 
the  Methodists,  the  Presbyterian  Board,  and  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterians,  have  boarding  schools  among  the  Choctaws, 
from  which  some  good  preachers  have  issued.  But  few  edu- 
cated in  the  boarding  schools  west  of  the  Mississippi  have  as 
yet  given  evidence  of  piety. 

In  a  general  view  of  the  boarding  schools  it  may  be  said, 
that  where  youth  have  been  taken  into  them  at  a  very  early 
age,  and  where  the  isolation  has  been  complete,  the  proportion 
of  hopeful  conversions  has  been  considerable.  But  the  con- 
verts, in  such  cases,  have  generally  been  found  less  practical, 
less  devoted  and  self-denying,  than  was  expected.  Hence 
some  of  the  changes  that  were  made  in  the  boarding-school 
system,  as  recorded  in  this  chapter ;  such  as  requiring  more 
age  for  admission,  a  shorter  residence,  a  Christian  parentage, 
(if  not  actual  piety,)  and  a  more  purely  religious  course  of 
study,  thus  making  the  high  schools  more  exclusively  and 
effectively  missionary  institutions. 


HIGHER   SCHOOLS.  323 

The  following  quotation  from  the  Report  of  the  Deputation 
to  the  India  Missions,  made  to  the  Board  at  its  special  meet- 
ing in  1856,  will  serve  to  show  the  present  state  of  opinion  on 
the  use  of  the  English  language  in  the  higher  schools :  — 

The  Board  will  kindly  bear  in  mind  the  distinction  we  have 
made  between  the  means  to  be  used  in  the  large  cities  and  in 
the  rural  districts  of  India,  and  that  our  remarks  are  not 
designed  to  have  a  special  bearing  upon  the  former.  We 
make  a  distinction  also  between  teaching  English  as  a  study, 
and  using  it  as  a  medium  of  instruction.  The  Prudential 
Committee  and  the  Secretaries  have  said  little  heretofore  on 
the  use  to  be  made  of  the  English  language,  because  they  did 
not  know  what  were  the  proper  metes  and  bounds  to  its  use. 
It  is  a  question  to  be  settled  by  experience,  and  there  has  not 
yet  been  experience  enough  to  harmonize  the  views  even  of 
missionaries.  The  Mahratta  missions  have  recorded  it  as  their 
opinion,  that  "  there  is  no  reason  for  the  study  of  English  in 
their  schools  for  catechists  and  teachers,  at  least  in  the  Deccan. 
They  should  be  strictly  vernacular  schools.  Our  ordinary 
catechists  and  teachers,"  they  say,  "  are  to  be  employed  in 
laboring  for  their  countrymen  in  the  Mahratta  language.  It 
is  important  that  their  training  should  be  vernacular.  The 
vernacular  of  any  people,"  they  add,  "  is  believed  to  be  the 
most  suitable  language  in  which  to  communicate  truth,  and 
through  which  to  affect  the  heart.  Schools  [for  the  higher 
education]  in  which  the  vernacular  is  the  grand  medium  of 
instruction,  and  the  English,  if  introduced,  is  only  taught  as 
a  classic,  seem  to  be  founded  on  the  best  basis,  and  to  promise 
and  produce  the  best  results." 

The  Madura  mission  decided,  that  the  class  of  young  men 
of  promise  and  piety  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  twenty- 
five,  preparing  for  schoolmasters,  catechists,  and  eventually, 
in  some  cases,  pastors,  should  be  restricted  to  purely  Tamil 
studies.  But  they  say  that  a  part  of  the  higher  class  should, 
in  their  opinion,  "study  the  English  language,  both  for  mental 
discipline,  and  that  they  may  have  access  to  English  litera- 
ture. But  as  a  medium  of  instruction,  the  English  should  be 


324  THE  MISSIONS. 

excluded  where  proper  text-books  in  Tamil  can  be  obtained." 
The  Ceylon  mission  declared  it  to  be  their  opinion  that  it  was 
not  expedient  to  continue  the  study  of  English  in  the  Female 
Boarding  School.  They  affirm  their  ability  to  show  by  many 
facts,  "  that  efforts  to  evangelize  a  people  through  a  foreign 
tongue,  have  not  proved  successful."  They  also  state  that 
the  system  of  instruction  pursued  in  the  Batticotta  Seminary 
"  has  tended  to  give  a  prominence  to  instruction  in  the  Eng- 
lish language  and  the  sciences,  which  has  led  many  of  the 
students  to  neglect  their  own  language.  Though  great  efforts 
have  been  made  on  the  part  of  the  missionaries  in  charge  to 
give  special  prominence  to  biblical  instruction  in  the  vernac- 
ular, and  bring  in  science  to  illustrate  and  impress  the  truth, 
the  current  in  favor  of  English  and  the  sciences  has  steadily 
advanced,  with  little  interruption.  A  class  of  men,  too," 
they  affirm,  "  has  been  raised  up,  who,  though  well  educated, 
and  in  some  respects  well  qualified  for  service  among  the 
people,  are  not  in  the  best  manner  fitted  by  their  course  of 
training  for  that  kind  of  humble  and  persevering  labor  which 
is  most  needed  in  making  known  the  gospel,  and  giving  it  a 
footing  permanently  in  the  villages,  on  a  self-sustaining  basis." 
And  they  add,  that  the  "  missionaries  connected^  with  the 
institution  have  been  hindered  in  the  acquisition  of  the  collo- 
quial language  of  the  country.  They  have  not  been  compelled 
by  circumstances  to  speak  in  Tamil,  and  the  temptation  to  use 
their  own  mother  tongue  has  too  often  prevailed.  The  same 
may  be  true  to  some  extent  of  other  missionaries,  who  have 
catechists  under  their  care  that  can  speak  the  English  lan- 
guage." 

The  mission  accordingly  gave  it  as  their  conviction,  "  that 
no  instruction  in  English  should  be  given  in  the  regular 
course  ;  "  and  that  "  the  course  of  study,  being  wholly  in  the 
vernacular,  should  be  eminently  biblical,  such  as  will,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  prepare  the  pupils  to  wield  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God.  Sacred  history,  geography, 
and  science,  should  be  brought  in  to  aid  in  'this  work,  and  all 
should  center  in  the  Bible,  and  be  made  to  explain  its  truths." 


HIGHER   SCHOOLS.  325 

It  has  been  already  stated,  that  we  suggested  the  expediency 
of  teaching  the  English  language  to  a  select  advanced  class  in 
theology,  hut  that  the  mission  did  not  deem  it  expedient  at 
that  time  to  make  a  formal  provision  for  such  an  arrangement. 
After  so  extensive  a  use  of  the  English  language  in  their 
school  system,  none  can  be  more  competent  than  our  brethren 
of  the  Ceylon  mission  to  judge  and  speak  of  its  real  value  as 
a  missionary  instrument.  How  far  the  mission  has  had. an 
agency  in  creating  the  passion  for  it,  which  seemed  to  pervade 
the  district  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  we  do  not  know.  It 
seemed  to  us  that  the  mission  acted  on  the  very  best  reasons 
in  excluding  the  English  language  from  their  schools,  and 
from  the  course  of  study  in  the  Seminary.  The  English  lan- 
guage, as  acquired  by  the  Tamil  young  man,  found  no  market 
in  his  native  village,  nor  within  the  territory  occupied  by  the 
mission,  except  as  the  mission  became  the  purchaser  by  giving 
him  a  salary  that  would  meet  his  own  views.  The  consequence 
was,  that  it  was  needful  to  give  larger  salaries  than  the  village 
churches  would  be  able  to  pay ;  and  too  often  the  graduate 
went  into  the  more  lucrative  service  of  the  government,  or  of 
some  merchant  or  planter,  and  thus  his  labors  and  influence 
were  lost  fo  the  mission  and  to  his  native  village.  Were  our 
object  merely  to  educate  and  civilize  the  people,  this  might 
do ;  but  the  churches  can  not  afford  to  prosecute  their  work  in 
this  manner.* 

Such  is  the  relation  which  the  Board  now  sustains,  and  has 
sustained,  to  education  and  missionary  schools. 

1.  In  the  present  advanced  state  of  most  of  its  missions,  it 
finds  a  more  profitable  use  for  its  funds  than  in  the  support 
of  heathen  schoolmasters.  Nor  does  past  experience  encour- 
age any  great  outlay  for  common  schools,  composed  of  very 
young  heathen  children,  even  with  Christian  masters ;  nor  for 
boarding  schools,  that  are  chiefly  made  up  of  such  children. 
Christian  children  should  of  course  receive  a  Christian  educa- 
tion ;'  but,  even  here,  it  is  not  wise  to  be  forward  to  relieve 

*  Report  of  the  Deputation  to  the  Board,  1856,  p.  44. 


326  THE   MISSIONS. 

parents  of  one  of  their  most  obvious  and  sacred  duties.  Into 
these  schools  as  many  heathen  children  should  have  admission 
as  can  find  room ;  and  there  should  be  schools  also  expressly 
for  such,  if  there  be  reliable  teachers  for  their  instruction,  aud 
funds  for  their  support. 

2.  The  Board  has  been  obliged,  in  the  progress  of  its  work, 
to  decline  connection  with  expensive  educational  institutions 
for  general  education,  to  prepare  young  men  for  secular  and 
worldly  pursuits.     Its  higher  schools,  whether  for  males  or 
females,  have  been  more  strictly  training  institutions,  with 
express  and  direct  reference  to  carrying  out  the  great  purposes 
of  the  missions.     Moreover,  it  has  been  found  necessary  to 
exclude  the  English  language,  in  great  measure,  from  the 
training  schools  for  educating  village  teachers,  preachers,  and 
pastors. 

3.  The  education  in  the  missions  under  the  care  of  the 
Board,  regarded  as  a  whole,  was  never  so  effective,  in  a  mis- 
sionary point  of  view,  never  so  valuable,  as  at  the  present  mo- 
ment.     Perhaps  there  are  as  many  common  schools  as  the 
missionaries  can  well  superintend.     What  these  schools  most 
need  is  better  teachers,  and  to  derive  more  of  their  support 
from  the  parents  of  the  pupils.     The  self-supporting  principle 
among  native  Christians,  in  all  its  applications,  needs  an  un- 
sleeping guardianship  and  culture.     It  is  here  that  the  grand 
practical  difficulty  lies  in  the  working  of  specific  charities. 
Where  a  man  can  support  himself,  it  would  be  cruel  to  sup- 
port him. 

4.  The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  educational  depart- 
ment as  it  was  at  the  close  of  the  year  1859  :  — 

Number  of  Seminaries, 11 

Number  of  other  Boarding  Schools,       13 

Number  of  Free  Schools,  (omitting  those  at  the  Sandwich 

Islands,) 345 

Number  of  Pupils  in  Free  Schools,  (omitting  those  at  S.  I.,)  9,744 

Number  of  Pupils  in  Seminaries, 530 

Number  of  Pupils  in  Boarding  Schools 341 

"Whole  Number  of  Pupils  in  Seminaries  and  Schools,    .     .     .       10,615 


HIGHER   SCHOOLS.  327 

Dr.  "Wood,  one  of  the  Secretaries,  has  furnished  a  view  of 
the  educational  work  of  the  American  Board  at  the  close  of 
1860,  as  compared  with  that  of  other  foreign  missionary  insti- 
tutions of  this  country. 

Whole  Yearly 
Pupils.  Expenditure. 

Board  of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly,      .     4,524     .     $234,037 

Baptist  Missionary  Union,   „ 28678     .         96,214 

Board  of  the  Episcopal  Church,    ......     1,018     .         89,738 


Total,. 8,220    . 

American  Board,  exclusive  of  Sandwich  Islands,    10,615     .     $361,959 

If  to  the  three  societies  named  above  are  added  the  Board 
of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church,  the  foreign  depart- 
ment of  the  American  Missionary  Association,  and  the  Indian, 
African,  Bulgarian,  India,  and  China  missions  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Society,  the  aggregate  of  pupils  is  about  nine  thou- 
sand eight  hundred,  while  that  of  the  expenditure  is  about  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  American  Board  now  has  a  larger 
number  of  pupils  in  its  missionary  schools,  in  proportion  to  its 
expenditure,  than  any  other  foreign  missionary  organization 
in  this  country ;  and  it  has  seventy-nine  per  cent,  more  than 
the  six  societies  above  mentioned,  when  taken  together.  Tin 
reports  of  some  of  these  societies  do  not  enable  us  to  deter- 
mine the  comparative  number  of  pupils  in  the  different  grades 
of  schools.  It  is  ascertained,  however,  that  in  the  missions  of 
the  Episcopal  Board,  a  somewhat  larger  part  are  in  boarding 
schools  than  are  found  in  the  similar  institutions  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board.  The  same  is  true  of  the  General  Assembly's 
Board,  including  schools  in  the  Indian  missions  for  which  aid 
is  obtained  from  the  United  States  government ;  but,  in  the 
other  missions  of  that  Board,  the  proportion  falls  a  little  below 
that  in  the  corresponding  missions  of  the  American  Board. 
The  proportion  is  presumed  to  be  still  smaller  in  other  socie- 
ties. The  American  Board  is  thus  seen  to  be  doing  more, 


328  THE   MISSIONS. 

proportionally,  in  the  educational  department,  than  other 
American  Missionary  Societies  have  been  led  to  undertake 
in  missions  beyond  sea. 

THE  OAHU  COLLEGE. 

.The  Oahu  College  at  Honolulu,  Sandwich  Islands,  is  not 
numbered  among  the  institutions  of  the  Board,  though  grow- 
ing out  of  its  operations,  and  hitherto  partly  supported  from 
its  funds.  It  was  commenced  in  1841,  as  a  school  for  the 
children  of  missionaries.  In  1851  it  was  opened  also  to  other 
children ;  and  two  years  later  it  received  an  act  of  incorpora- 
tion as  a  College  from  the  Hawaiian  government.  The  charter 
declares  that  "  no  course  of  instruction  shall  be  deemed  lawful 
in  said  institution,  which  is  not  accordant  with  the  principles 
of  Protestant  Evangelical  Christianity,  as  held  by  that  body 
of  Protestant  Christians  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
which  originated  the  Christian  mission  to  the  Islands,  and  to 
whose  labors  and  benevolent  contributions  the  people  of  these 
Islands  are  so  greatly  indebted."  There  is  an  additional 
security  for  the  institution  in  the  following  article,  namely : 
"  Whenever  a  vacancy  shall  occur  in  said  corporation,  it  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  trustees  to  fill  the  same  with  all  reasonable 
and  convenient  dispatch.  And  every  new  election  shall  be 
immediately  made  known  to  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and 
be  subject  to  their  approval  or  rejection,  and  this  power  of 
revision  shall  be  continued  to  the  American  Board  for  twenty 
years  from  the  date  of  this  charter."  The  property  of  the 
College,  in  buildings,  land,  etc.,  in  1856,  was  valued  at  twen- 
ty-seven thousand  dollars,  which  was  derived  chiefly  from  the 
Board.  To  this  the  Hawaiian  government  have  added  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  toward  an  endowment  of  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
and  subscriptions  were  obtained  in  this  country  to  the  amount 
of  six  thousand  dollars.  The  effort  was  arrested  by  the  great 
commercial  crisis  of  1857. 


FOREIGN   YOUTH  IN  THIS  COUNTEY.  329 

i       i 

FOREIGN  YOUTH  IN  THIS  COUNTRY. 

In  its  earlier  years,  the  Board  expected  much  from  the  edu- 
cation of  foreign  youth  in  this  country.  Though  the  effort  was 
unsuccessful,  it  was  not  fruitless,  so  much  did  it  add  to  the 
stock  of  useful  missionary  experience.  The  first  efforts  in 
behalf  of  this  class  would  seem  to  have  been  called  forth  by 
the  interest  awakened  in  Henry  Obookiah,  and  other  Sandwich 
Islands  youth,  whom  commerce  with  the  Pacific  had  thrown 
upon  our  shores. 

A  Foreign  Mission  School  was  instituted  for  such  in  1816,  in 
a  pleasant  part  of  Cornwall,  Conn.  A  small  farm  was  pur- 
chased, with  two  dwelling  houses.  The  people  of  Cornwall 
gave,  in  consideration  of  the  school  being  established  there,  a 
convenient  academical  building,  with  woodland,  etc.,  to  the 
value  of  about  thirteen  hundred  dollars. 

The  object  of  the  school  was  the  education,  in  this  country, 
of  heathen  youth,  so  that  they  might  be  qualified  to  become 
useful  missionaries,  physicians,  surgeons,  schoolmasters,  or 
interpreters,  and  to  communicate  to  the  heathen  nations  such 
knowledge  in  agriculture  and  the  arts,  as  might  prove  the 
means  of  promoting  Christianity  and  civilization.  Mr.  Edwin 
W.  Dwight,  the  friend  of  Obookiah,  was  the  first  principal. 
He  was  succeeded,  after  a  year,  by  Rev.  Herman  Daggett ;  and 
he,  in  1824,  by  Amos  Bassett,  D.  D.  There  were  ten  pupils 
from  heathen  lands  the  first  year,  chiefly  from  the  Sandwich 
Islands ;.  two  were  young  natives  of  Connecticut,  who  after- 
ward spent  several  years  as  teachers  at  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
"  The  raised  hopes,  founded,  under  Providence,  on  the  unques- 
tioned piety,  the  distinguished  talents,  and  the  excellent  char- 
acter of  Obookiah,  terminated  in  his  triumphant  departure 
from  these  earthly  scenes  before  the  first  year  of  the  school 
had  expired."  *  In  1820,  the  number  of  pupils  was  twenty- 
nine  ;  four  from  the  Sandwich  Islands,  one  from  Tahiti,  one 
from  the  Marquesas,  one  Malay,  eight  Cherokees,  two'  Choo 

*  Report  of  the  Board  for  1820,  p.  307. 

42 


330  THE  MISSIONS. 

taws,  three  of  the  Stockbridge  tribe,  two  Oneidas,  one  Tusca- 
rora,  two  Cauglmewagas,  one  Indian  youth  from  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  three  youth  of  our  own  country.  The  report  for  that 
year  —  the  last  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Worcester  —  speaks  thus  of 
the  school :  "  Besides  being  taught  in  various  branches  of 
learning,  and  made  practically  acquainted  with  the  useful  arts 
of  civilized  life,  the  pupils  are  instructed  constantly  and  with 
especial  care  in  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  Christianity.  Nor 
has  this  instruction  been  communicated  in  vain.  Of  the  thirty- 
one  heathen  youth,  —  including,  with  the  twenty-six  now  at 
school,  the  deceased  Obookiah,  and  the  four  who  have  gone 
with  the  mission  to  their  native  Islands,  —  seventeen  are 
thought  to  have  given  evidence  of  a  living  faith  in  the  gospel, 
and  several  others  are  very  seriously  thoughtful  on  religious 
concerns."  At  the  end  of  five  years,  the  number  of  pupils 
was  thirty-four  —  chiefly  from  the  isles  of  the  Pacific,  and  from 
the  Indian  tribes.  Five  were  youth  of  our  own  country. 
Nineteen  were  then  members  of  the  church.  The  school  was 
very  popular.  We  learn  from  the  Report  of  the  Board  for 
1822,  that  it  was  becoming  a  subject  of  conversation  among 
intelligent  Christians,  and  of  serious  inquiry,  whether  more 
extensive  measures  could  be  adopted  to  educate  young  foreign 
ers  cast  upon  our  shores.  In  1823,  two  lads  from  the  Greek 
Islands  were  placed  in  the  school,  but  this  class  was  not  found 
to  mingle  happily  with  the  other  pupils. 

In  the  year  1825,  a  considerable  number  of  the  youth  edu- 
cated at  the  Cornwall  School  had  been  returned,  where  there 
were  missions,  to  their  native  lands,  and  the  theories  of  the 
past  were  corrected  by  experience.  This  experience  is  stated 
in  the  Report  of  that  year.  "  It  is  now  nine  years,"  says  the 
Report,  "  since  this  seminary  was  founded.  The  favor  of  God 
has  been  extended  to  it,  and  much  good  has  been  effected  by 
its  instrumentality.  Still,  every  human  institution  has  its 
defects,  and  is  exposed  to  evils  which  can  not  always  be  fore- 
seen. Difficulties  have  been  experienced,  in  regard  to  the 
youth  who  have  returned  to  their  native  lands,  which  were 
not  fully  anticipated.  It  was  always  supposed  that  stead- 


FOREIGN   YOUTH   IN   THIS   COUNTRY.  331 

fast  religious  principle  was  necessary  to  their  support  against 
the  numerous  temptations  by  which  they  would  be  assailed. 
This  is  indeed  the  case.  But  even  those  who  continue  to  sus- 
tain a  character  of  undoubted  piety,  are  under  some  disadvan- 
tages with  respect  to  missionary  service.  The  abundant  pro- 
vision which  was  made  for  them  while  in  this  country,  added 
to  the  paternal  attention  which  they  every  where  received,  but 
ill  prepared  them  for  the  privations  which  they  must  bear 
among  their  uncivilized  brethren.  The  expense  of  maintain- 
ing them  in  any  tolerable  state  of  comfort,  is  much  greater 
than  it  would  be  if  they  had  never  become  habituated  to  the 
modes  of  life  in  an  improved  state  of  society.  There  is  great 
reason  to  believe  that  youth  in  a  heathen  country  can  be  so 
instructed  at  missionary  stations  as  to  be  very  useful  to  their 
countrymen  at  an  early  period ;  and,  while  they  are  greatly 
raised  in  their  manner  of  living,  and  in  their  whole  character, 
they  may  yet  preserve  a  large  share  of  their  original  hardihood, 
and  be  able  to  associate  with  their  uninstructed  countrymen 
more  freely  and  acceptably,  than  if  they  had  spent  several  years 
in  a  strange  land.  The  indications  of  Providence  seem  to 
teach,  that  the  best  education  of  youth  born  heathen,  having 
reference  to  their  success  as  teachers  of  their  brethren,  must 
be  given  through  the  instrumentality  of  missionary  institutions 
in  their  respective  countries.  Some  individuals  may  derive 
great  benefit  from  a  residence  in  a  Christian  land ;  but,  judg- 
ing from  the  experience  of  missionary  societies  in  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  from  what  has  come  to  the  immediate  knowledge  of 
this  Committee,  and  considering  the  dangers  of  climate,  the 
exposures  to  immorality  at  sea,  the  temptations  presented  on 
returning  to  places  where  previous  restraints  are  withdrawn, 
it  is  questionable  whether  young  men  of  the  class  here  referred 
to,  may  not  almost  universally  be  better  prepared  for  efficient 
labor  under  the  paternal  care  of  missionaries,  than  in  any  other 
way.  In  regard  to  this  subject,  the  Board  eminently  need  the 
guidance  of  divine  wisdom.  If  it  should  seem  best  that  the 
Foreign  Mission  School  be  discontinued,  there  should  be  no 
regret  that  it  was  founded.  It  has  answered  valuable  pur- 


332  THE  MISSIONS. 

poses,  which,  so  far  as  man  can  discern,  could  not  have  been 
answered  without  it-" 

The  reasons  for  discontinuing  the  school  are  fully  stated  in 
the  Report  of  the  Board  for  1826.  They  are  an  amplification 
of  the  above  statement.  It  was  closed  in  the  following  year  ; 
but  not  without  some  manifestations  of  divided  opinion  as  to 
the  expediency  of  the  measure,  and  some  dissatisfied  feeling. 

The  experiment  was  continued  in  another  form,  for  a  time, 
by_  placing  several  Greek  and  Armenian  youth  in  academies 
and  colleges.  The  experience  proved  so  unsatisfactory  in  the 
end,  that  all  thought  of  educating  foreign  youth  in  this  coun- 
try, whether  from  heathen  lands  or  from  the  Oriental  churches, 
was  abandoned ;  and  it  became  a  settled  policy  of  the  Board 
to  do  all  its  educational  work  in  the  countries  where  it  has  its 
missions.  The  cost  of  the  Foreign  Mission  School,  in  the  ten 
years  of  its  existence,  was  thirty-four  thousand  five  hundred 
and  ninety-eight  dollars. 


CHAPTER. VIII. 

PREACHING  AND   THE  PRESS. 

PREACHING.  What  the  Preacher  needs.  —  What  is  meant  by  Preaching.  —  Prerequisites 
fcr  Success.  —  Gathering  of  Congregations. —  Their  Nucleus  a  Church.  —  Christian 
Congregations  in  the  Madura  Mission.  —  Signs  of  Progress. —The  School  and  the 
Congregation.  —  Successful  Preaching.  —  Street  and  Itinerant  Preaching.  —  Preaching 
Houses — Cost  of  Village  Churches — Houses  of  Worship  at  the  Sandwich  Islands 
—  Wise  Suggestions  on  Church  Building.  —  THE  PRESS.  Number  of  Languages  re- 
duced to  Writing.  —  Cherokee  Alphabet.  —  Choctaw  and  Hawaiian  Alphabets.  —  Arabic 
Type — Syriac  Type.  —  Number  of  Languages  employed.  —Number  of  Printing  Es- 
tablishments. — Amount  of  Printing  in  the  Missions. 

PREACHING. 

THE  missionary  preacher  needs  an  idiomatic  and  free  use  of 
the  native  language,  and  he  needs  hearers.  It  is  not  easy  to 
say  how  far  the  four  hundred  and  fifteen  ordained  missionaries 
sent  forth  by  the  American  Board  have  been  able  to  preach 
idiomatically  and  fluently  in  the  vernaculars.  We  speak  of 
preaching  in  the  popular  sense,  by  those  who  have  been  spe- 
cially and  solemnly  set  apart  for  it,  "  with  the  laying  on  of  the 
hands  of  the  presbytery."  There  have  been  signal  instances 
of  success  in  preaching,  where  the  missionary  entered  the 
field  beyond  the  age  of  thirty ;  but  it  is  apprehended  there 
have  been  a  considerable  number  of  failures.  For  such  lan- 
guages as  the  Arabic,  the  Tamil,  and  the  Chinese  with  its 
intonations,  the  organs  are  then  becoming  too  rigid,  and  the 
power  of  ceaseless  attention  to  sounds  difficult  to  acquire. 
Most  of  those  who  became  masters  of  the  language  went 
under  that  age.  Yet  it  would  not  be  easy  to  lay  down  a  pos- 
itive rule.  A  burning  desire  to  save  souls,  wisely  applied  to 
the  appropriate  means,  will  make  itself  understood  and  felt  by 
the  people  of  any  language. 


334  THE  MISSIONS. 

The  gathering  of  a  congregation  is,  in  most  unevangelized 
countries,  a  work  of  time  and  faith,  requiring  patience  and 
perseverance.  It  seems  to  need  the  presence  of  a  working 
body  of  believers ;  and  their  efficacy  is  much  increased  by 
becoming  an  organized  church.  The  church  is  the  proper 
nucleus  of  a  congregation.  The  "Christian  congregations" 
of  the  Madura  mission  are  not  Christian  churches,  and  fre- 
quently exist  without  them ;  they  are  a  sort  of  Christian  asso- 
ciation, a  peculiar  institution,  bound  together  by  some  sort  of 
agreement  with  the  local  missionary,  growing  out  of  peculiar- 
ities in  the  social  condition.  They  are  an  outer  court,  and  will 
probably  lose  their  present  form  as  the  local  churches  acquire 
influence  under  native  pastors.  A  small  congregation  in  un- 
christianized  countries  is  a  much  stronger  proof  of  religious 
interest,  than  a  large  one  is  in  countries  where  attendance 
involves  no  personal  hazard.  Much  more  is  this  true  of  a 
small  church,  where  every  earthly  interest  is  periled  by  a 
Christian  profession.  Large  stated  congregations  —  as  at  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  and  at  Kessab  and  Aintab  in  Northern 
Syria — imply  a  preponderating  Christian  influence  where  they 
exist,  repressing  persecution.  Where,  too,  serious  hearers  are 
readily  found  in  every  direction,  though  in  small  numbers.  — 
as  in  Asiatic  Turkey,  among  the  Nestorians,  and  in  regions 
around  Ahmednuggur,  —  it  is  certain  that  the  gospel  has 
gained  headway,  and  that  the  time  of  harvest  is  near. 

Experience  has  shown  that  neither  the  common  school  nor 
the  boarding  school  forms  a  good  nucleus  for  the  congrega- 
tion. However  useful,  and  even  necessary,  in  other  respects, 
the  schools  have  failed  in  this.  They  furnish  an  audience,  but 
seldom  a  congregation  that  survives  them.  The  insufficiency 
of  both  classes  of  schools  for  this  purpose  was  exemplified  in 
one  of  the  oldest  of  the  India  missions.  The  five  older  stations 
of  the  mission  enjoyed,  for  nearly  forty  years,  the  labors  of 
some  of  the  ablest  of  missionaries,  familiar  with  the  language, 
good  and  faithful  preachers,  with  every  facility,  during  all  this 
time,  which  popular  schools  of  varied  form  could  give.  Yet, 
as  was  ascertained  by  a  careful  analysis,  when  the  pupils  in  the 


PREACHING.  335 

mission  schools,  and  persons  in  the  employ  of  the  mission  and 
depending  on  it  for  their  support,  were  separated  from  the 
congregations,  there  remained  only  about  one  hundred  adults 
who  were  not  members  of  the  church,  for  the  whole  of  these 
five  older  congregations.  This  did  not  prove  the  impracticabil- 
ity of  the  field,  but  the  insufficiency  of  the  schools  as  a  means 
of  securing  permanent  congregations.  We  have  elsewhere 
spoken  of  their  utility  and  importance  in  other  respects  as  a 
part  of  the  missionary  enterprise.  The  schools  just  adverted 
to,  besides  contributing  materially  to  the  stock  of  missionary 
experience,  did  much  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  spread  of  the 
gospel.  In  another  of  the  India  missions,  where  there  had 
been  a  similar  experience,  the  missionaries,  enlightened  by 
the  past,  very  forcibly  insist  on  direct  efforts  for  gathering 
local  churches,  as  the  only  effectual  method  of  filling  a  coun- 
try with  Christian  congregations.  The  subject  is  so  important 
that  we  copy  their  very  intelligent  remarks  upon  it :  — 

The  course  of  the  missionary  in  regard  to  preaching, — 
they  say,  —  must  be  different  in  the  same  place,  according  to 
the  different  stages  of  the  work.  When  he  first  enters  upon 
his  labors  at  a  new  station,  his  great  effort  will  be  to  draw 
people  around  him,  and  interest  them  in  the  presentation  of 
gospel  truth.  In  doing  this,  it  will  not  probably  be  found 
necessary  to  make  use  of  schools  in  order  to  collect  a  congre- 
gation, as  has  been  hitherto  deemed  important  in  most  of  our 
missions.  The  missionary  who  declines  to  establish  schools 
for  this  purpose,  must  go  forth  to  one  place  and  another, 
preaching  in  the  streets  to  small  companies,  or  gathering 
larger  companies  around  him  at  chaudis,  or  in  the  chapel. 
When  conversions  occur,  he  must  instruct  his  converts  in  the 
Christian  faith.  He  must  have  his  regular  congregations  on 
the  Sabbath,  for  which  he  must  exert  himself  in  preparing 
religious'  instruction,  feeding  the  flock  of  God,  over  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  hath  made  him  an  overseer.  But  he  must  not  be 
satisfied  with  this.  He  must  look  beyond  the  mere  pastorate 
of  a  church.  He  must  endeavor  to  collect  native  churches  in 


836  THE  MISSIONS. 

different  places,  and  he  must  train  up  some  of  his  converts  to 
be  the  pastors  of  these  churches.  He  should  be  prepared  to 
commit  the  truths  of  the  gospel  to  faithful  men,  that  they  may 
teach  them  to  others  also.  As  they  increase  in  knowledge  of 
the  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  in  adaptation  to 
the  work  of  making  them  known  to  others,  he  must  give  them 
the  opportunity  of  exercising  their  talents,  standing  out  of 
the  way  when  necessary,  that  they  may  gradually  be  prepared 
to  come  forward  and  perform  the  duties  of  faithful  ministers 
of  Jesus  Christ.  He  should  ever  himself  be  aiming  at  further 
extension,  seeking  how  he  may  collect  new  churches,  and  pre- 
pare pastors  for  them,  thus  making  all  his  plans  subserve  the 
one  object  of  fully  planting  the  gospel  of  Christ  in  the  country 
where  he  resides,  by  the  establishment  of  churches  with  their 
appropriate  pastors  and  other  officers.  The  missionary  should 
feel  it  to  be  his  business  to  go  forward  and  find  out  where  new 
churches  can  be  established,  collect  the  nucleus,  and  then 
furnish  the  native  laborer  who  shall  carry  on  the  work.  Dr. 
Judson  said,  when  he  had  succeeded  in  collecting  a  church  of 
one  hundred  members  in  Birmah,  that  he  was  satisfied ;  his 
anticipations  of  success  were  fully  realized.  The  days  of  the 
pioneers  of  Christian  missions  are  now  past.  Henceforth 
let  it  be  the  aim  of  the  missionary  to  collect,  not  one  church 
of  a  hundred  members,  but  twenty,  fifty,  or  a  hundred 
churches,  over  which  native  pastors  shall  be  placed.  With 
such  an  object  in  view,  the  minor  plans  of  a  missionary  will 
all  be  arranged  more  wisely,  than  if  he  makes  his  arrange- 
ments to  remain  an  indefinite  time  in  one  spot.  And  not  only 
so,  the  views  of  the  churches  which  he  gathers  will  be  more 
correct,  than  if  he  settles  down  in  one  place,  feeling  little 
interest  in  the  regions  beyond.  If  he  labors  to  extend  the 
gospel  with  its  privileges  to  the  whole  country  round,  his 
churches  and  their  pastors  will  be  churches  and  pastors  of  the 
right  kind,  possessed  of  a  missionary  spirit,  and  laboring  with 
one  heart  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  among  their  country- 
men. On  the  contrary,  if  the  missionary  becomes  absorbed 
in  teaching,  or  in  home  labor,  there  is  great  danger,  as  we  all 


PREACHING.  337 

have  had  opportunity  to  observe,  that  his  young  men  will  also 
be  absorbed  in  study,  or  teaching,  or  some  other  local  occupa- 
tion, and  their  views  will  thus  become  very  much  confined ; 
and  instead  of  being  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  there  is 
great  reason  to  fear  they  will  become  effeminate,  delicate, 
worldly,  and  unfit  to  do  the  work  of  an  evangelist,  or  to  labor 
efficiently  in  the  cause  of  their  Master.* 

These  wise  suggestions  have  been  since  carried  into  practice 
by  the  missionaries  on  the  ground  where,  six  years  ago,  they 
were  written.  They  had  then  only  two  churches,  and  now 
they  have  fifteen.  The  average  annual  accession  of  members 
has  risen  from  twenty-eight  to  seventy-two,  and  the  last  year 
it  was  one  hundred  and.  twenty-seven.  These  churches  are 
effective  nuclei  for  stated  congregations,  with  a  steady  and 
remarkable  increase  of  power  for  accelerating  the  spread  of 
the  gospel  and  the  multiplication  of  new  churches  and  con- 
gregations, f 

Street  preaching,  where  crowds  are  collected,  requires  a 
peculiar  combination  of  talents,  as  well  as  great  readiness  in 
the  language,  and  a  quick  and  accurate  perception  of  the 
manners  and  prejudices  of  the  people.  It  is  now  practiced 
in  a  more  quiet  way  than  formerly,  avoiding  what  would  bring 
together  a  crowd  or  excite  a  tumult,  and  aiming  to  present  the 
truths  of  the  gospel  in  a  conciliatory  manner, 

Much  time  and  labor  have  been  expended  by  the  India 
missions  in  preaching  tours  to  villages  and  towns  in  the  rural 
districts.  The  missionary  sometimes  carries  a  tent,  and,  pitch- 
ing it  at  some  central  place,  holds  daily  religious  services 
there  and  in  the  neighboring  villages ;  then  passes  on  to  an- 
other convenient  center.  It  is  desirable  that  the  missionary 
stay  long  enough  in  a  place  to  see  if  an  interest  is  awakened 
in  any  mind;  and  if  there  is,  to  follow  it  up  with  further 
instruction.  It  is  important,  also,  that  there  be  repeated  visits 
to  places  where  the  Holy  Spirit  seems  to  be  operating  on  the 

*  Report  of  the  Mahratta  Missions,  1854.  t  See  p.  266. 

43 


338  THE  MISSIONS. 

minds  of  men.  "By  thus  cooperating  with  God,  following 
where  he  leads,  and  laboring  where  his  providence  directs,  we 
may  expect  the  most  satisfactory  results.  And  wherever  sev- 
eral individuals  are  converted  to  God,  there  a  native  catechist 
should  be  placed,  and  the  interest  be  extended  as  far  as  possi- 
ble. New  centers  of  light  being  thus  established  one  after 
another,  we  may.  hope  for  the  more  rapid  diffusion  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  gospel  through  the  country."  * 

There  has  been  no  small  amount  of  needless  expense  in 
preaching  houses,  in  the  early  stages  of  the  missions.  These 
houses  should  obviously  be  such  as  the  heathen  will  be  most 
disposed  to  frequent.  It  is  the  recorded  judgment  of  the 
Ceylon  mission,  after  ample  experience,  that  buildings  for 
worship  there  should  be  open  bungalows,  with  an  ola  roof, 
supported  by  plain  wooden  posts,  costing  only  from  twenty- 
five  to  seventy-five  dollars.  When  the  people  desire  something 
more  costly,  they  should  build  for  themselves.f 

The  Madura  mission  recommend,  for  churches  at  the  sta- 
tions, a  plain  structure,  costing  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to 
two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  according  to  different  circum- 
stances. For  the  village  churches  they  recommend  a  plain 
mud  building,  with  a  thatched  roof,  the  cost  of  which  might 
vary  from  twelve  to  twenty-five  dollars. f  The  cost  of  village 
churches  in  the  Mahratta  mission  was  estimated  at  from 
twenty-five  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  all  of  the  plain- 
est description,  and  no  larger  than  necessity  demands  — 
"  reference  being  had  to  the  time  when  the  congregations  will 
bear  the  whole  expense  of  erecting  their  places  for  worship." 

Missionaries,  assembled  at  Constantinople  in  1855,  declared 
it  not  to  be  desirable  to  erect  a  church  edifice  in  any  place, 
whether  city  or  village,  at  the  very  commencement  of  an  evan- 
gelical work.  They  thought  the  spiritual  building  should 
precede  the  material ;  that  a  church  should  first  be  formed, 
and  a  congregation  gathered.  When  a  church,  congregation, 
and  preacher  exist,  then  a  suitable  house  of  worship  would  be 

*  Report  of  Mahratta  Missions,  1854.  f  Mission  Report,  1855. 


THE  PRESS.  339 

important.  The  building  should  be  adapted  to  the  existing 
prospects  of  the  congregation,  not  for  the  distant  future. 
"  While  it  should  allow  some  room  for  growth,  it  should  never 
be  such  a  structure  as  to  appear  naked  or  empty  when  the 
usual  congregation  is  gathered  into  it.  In  most  cases,  there- 
fore, it  will  be  advisable,  that  the  first  buildings  should  be 
churches  and  school  houses  in  one.  If  the  building  be  simple, 
neat,  and  somewhat  churchly  in  its  appearance,  and  have  good 
light  and  air,  every  reasonable  aim  will  be  attained."  * 

The  Sandwich  Islands  people  have  built  their  own  churches, 
and  have  generally  furnished  them  with  bells ;  so  that  the 
traveler  is  often  agreeably  reminded  that  he  is  in  a  Christian 
country.  Their  churches,  built  of  stone,  have  cost  much 
labor,  but  no  great  amount  of  money. 

It  takes  a  long  time  to  correct  the  views  of  ministerial  edu- 
cation, and  of  church  building,  which  we  carry  with  us  into 
the  heathen  world.  The  saving  in  church  building,  which 
grew  out  of  the  discussions  in  the  Eastern  missions,  in  the 
years  1854  and  1855,  is  already  very  considerable,  and  will 
ultimately  become  a  large  sum ;  with  a  decided  advance,  at 
the  same  time,  toward  meeting  the  tastes  and  habits  of  the 
people,  and  securing  the  construction  of  the  buildings  at  the 
cost  of  those  for  whom  they  are  intended.  Expensive  church 
edifices  at  the  mission  stations  have  resulted  more  from  the 
taste  or  convenience  of  the  resident  missionary,  than  from 
forethought  of  their  effect  on  the  natives  after  the  spread  of 
the  gospel  and  the  organization  of  native  churches  shall  have 
required  the  erection  of  preaching  houses  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts ;  and  they  often  prevent  the  forming  of  new  congrega- 
tions in  neighboring  villages. 

THE  PRESS. 

The  missionaries  connected  with  the  Board  have  found  it 
necessary  to  reduce  twenty  languages  to  writing,  preliminary 

*  Report  of  the  Missionaries,  1855. 


340  THE  MISSIONS. 

to  the  preparation  of  books.  These  were  the  Greybo,  Mpongwe, 
Dikele,  Zulu-Kaffir,  Modern  Syriac  or  Nestorian,  Dyak,  Hawai- 
ian, Micronesian,  Cherokee,  Choctaw,  Creek,  Osage,  Ottawa, 
Ojibwa,  Abenaquis,  Sioux  or  Dakota,  Pawnee,  and  three  lan- 
guages of  the  Oregon  Indians.  The  Roman  character  was 
employed,  with  some  modifications,  in  all  these  languages, 
excepting  the  Syriac  and  Cherokee.  In  the  former,  the  Syriac 
character  was  used ;  and  in  the  latter,  the  syllabic  alphabet 
invented  by  Guess,  or  Sequoyah,  a  Cherokee,  past  the  middle 
age,  who  knew  only  his  native  tongue.  "  Having  become 
acquainted  with  the  principle  of  the  alphabet,  —  that  marks 
can  be  made  the  symbols  of  sound,  —  this  uninstructed  man 
conceived  the  notion  that  he  could  express  all  the  syllables  in 
the  Cherokee  language  by  separate  marks,  or  characters.  On 
collecting  all  the  syllables,  which,  after  long  study  and  trial, 
he  could  recall  to  his  memory,  he  found  the  number  to  be 
eighty-two.  In  order  to  express  these,  he  took  the  letters  of 
our  alphabet  for  a  part  of  them,  and  various  modifications  of 
our  letters,  with  some  characters  of  his  own  invention,  for  the 
rest.  With  these  symbols  he  set  about  writing  letters ;  and 
very  soon  a  correspondence  was  actually  maintained  between 
the  Cherokees  in  Wills  Valley  and  their  countrymen  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  five  hundred  miles  apart.  This  was  done  by 
individuals  who  could  not  speak  English,  and  who  had  never 
learned  any  alphabet,  except  this  syllabic  one,  which  Guess 
had  invented,  taught  to  others,  and  introduced  into  prac- 
tice." *  Either  Guess,  or  some  one  else,  discovered  four  other 
syllables,  making  the  syllables  of  the  Cherokee  language 
eighty-six.  This  is  a  singular  fact,  considering  that  the  lan- 
guage is  very  copious  in  some  directions,  a  single  verb  under- 
going some  thousands  of  inflections.  The  late  Dr.  Samuel  A. 
Worcester,  of  the  Cherokee  mission,  thus  speaks  of  this 
invention :  — 

"  A  few  hours  of  instruction  are  sufficient  for  a  Cherokee 
to  learn  to  read  his  own  language  intelligibly.     He  will  not, 

*  Report  of  the  Board  for  1825,  p.  51. 


THE   PRESS.  341 

indeed,  so  soon  be  able  to  read  fluently  ;  but  when  he  has 
learned  to  read  and  understand,  fluency  will  be  acquired  by 
practice.  The  extent  of  my  information  will  not  enable  me 
to  form  a  probable  estimate  of  the  number  in  the  nation  who 
can  thus  read ;  but  I  am  assured,  by  those  who  had  the  best 
opportunity  of  knowing,  that  there  is  no  part  of  the  nation 
where  the  new  alphabet  is  not  understood.  That  it  will  pre- 
vail over  every  other  method  of  writing  the  language,  there  is 
no  doubt.  If  a  book  were  printed  in  that  character,  there  are 
those  in  every  part  of  the  nation  who  could  "read  it  at  once, 
and  many  others  would  only  have  to  obtain  a  few  hours' 
instruction  from  some  friend,  to  enable  them  to  do  so.  They 
have  but  to  learn  their  alphabet,  and  they  can  read  at  once."* 
Dr.  Worcester  subsequently  spent  many  years,  until  his  death 
in  1859,  in  translating  the  Scriptures  and  preparing  other 
books  in  the  Cherokee  language,  using  only  the  syllabic  alpha- 
bet, as  the  public  sentiment  required  that  to  be  used  exclu- 
sively in  Cherokee  books  and  schools. 

Every  sound  in  the  Cherokee  language  has  a  vowel  termina- 
tion. Such  not  being  the  case  in  the  Choctaw,  the  sounds  of 
that  language  were  too  numerous  to  admit  of  a  separate  char- 
acter for  each.  Every  sound  has  a  vowel  termination,  also,  in 

^  ~ -      ^ —  ~"  _.  _-_,.._  _         ._,.„_,*,  -     -         _.__„.-. r  -L 

the  Hawaiian  language,  and  five  vowels  and  seven  consonants 
suffice  to  express  all  the  sounds.  A  few  diphthongal  combi- 
nations are  needed,  but  each  letter  retains  its  original  sound. 
A  syllabic  alphabet  was  of  course  possible  for  the  Hawaiian, 
but  it  is  said  that  ninety-five  characters  would  have  been 
required.  With  the  few  characters  now  in  use,  each  having 
but  one  sound,  the  native  very  easily  learns  to  read,  spell,  and 
write.  Nine  additional  consonants  are  employed  to  preserve 
the  identity  of  foreign  and  Scripture  names,  and  these  are 
imparted  to  the  pupil  after  he  has  learned  to  read  pure  na- 
tive words. 

This  curious  specimen  of  Cherokee  literature  will  be  found 
on  the  following  page,  with  the  sounds  of  the  letters,  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer  in  the  Cherokee  language. 

*  Missionary  Herald  for  1826,  p.  48. 


CHEROKEE  ALPHABET. 


D 

a 

R 

e 

T 

i 

* 

0 

• 

ga 

©  ka 

If 

ge 

y 

g1 

A 

g° 

of 

ha 

? 

he 

Jt 

hi 

i 

ho 

W 

la 

tT 

le 

£ 

li 

S 

lo 

r 

ma 

(H 

me 

H 

mi 

4 

mo 

e 

na 

ti-  hna 

Jl 

ne 

li 

ni 

z 

no 

X 

gwa 

cO 

gwe 

iy>  gwi         «v*  gwo 

H 

sa 

at  S 

4 

se 

B 

si 

* 

so 

L  da  W  ta 

8= 

de   'B  te 

J[ 

di  j 

i  ti  v 

do 

A 

dla 

fj  tla 

L 

die 

C 

dli 

v 

dlo 

G 

dsa 

T 

dse 

h- 

dsi 

K 

dso 

& 

wa 

Jtf 

we 

« 

wi 

e> 

wo 

od 

ya 

f 

ye 

^ 

yi 

£ 

y° 

O9  u 
J  gu 
r  hu 

M  lu 
-y  mu 
<l  nu 

U)  gwu 
t»  su 
s  du 
•v  dlu 
J   dsu 
S   wu 
GP"  yu 


J    v 
E  gv 
A  hv 
•4  Iv 

0-  nv 
e  gwy 
.  R  sv 
<r»  dv 
p  dlv 
a  dsv 
6  wv 
B  yv 


Sounds  represented  by  Vowels, 

a  as  a  in  father,  or  short  as  a  in  rival, 
e  as  a  in  hate,    or  short  as  e  in  met, 
i  as  i  in  pique,  or  short  as  i  in  jn'i, 
o  as  auj  in  law,     or  short  as  o  in  not,  nearly, 
u  as  oo  in  moon,  or  short  as  u  in  j?ul{, 
T  as  M  in  but,  nasalized. 


Consonant  Sounds, 

The  sound  of  g  is  nearly  as  hard  g  in  English, 
but  approaching  to  k.  That  of  d  nearly  as  in 
English,  but  approaching  to  t.  Other  consonants 
as  in  English. 

In  some  words  g,  1,  n,  d,  w,  and  y  are  aspirated, 
as  if  preceded  by  h.  Aspiration  gives  to  g  the 
power  of  k,  and  to  d  the  power  of  t. 


THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IX  CHEROKEE. 


«><xy& 


h>h$rc*aoj-.     IILVVJPE 


Kh-sy.     D<r 


D<T 


R(M:O-. 


,    D«f 


INTERPRETATION,  WITH  PRONUNCIATION  ACCORDING  TO  THE  ALPHABET. 

aw  gi  daw  da  |  ga  Iv  la  di  ehi  |  ga  Ir  quo  di  yu  \  ge  se  sdi  |  de  tsa  daw 
v  i  |  dsa  gv  wi  yu  hi  ge  sv  \  wi  ga  na  nu  gaw  i  |  a  ni  e  law  hi  |  wi  dsi  ga 
li  sda  |  ha  da  nv  ste  gv  i  |  na  sgi  ya  |  ga  Iv  la  di  |  tsi  ni  ga  li  sdi  ha  |  ni 
da  daw  da  qui  sv  \  aw  ga  li  sda  yv  di  |  sgi  v  si  \  gaw  hi  i  ga  |  di  ge  sgi 
v  si  quo  naw  |  de  sgi  du  gv  i  |  na  sgi  ya  |  tsi  di  ga  yaw  tsi  na  haw  |  tsaw 
tsi  du  gi  |  a  le  tla  sdi  |  oo  da  gaw  le  ye  di  yi  ge  sv  \  wi  di  sgi  ya  ti  nv 
sta  nv  gi  \  sgi  yu  da  le  sge  sdi  quo  sgi  ni  |  oo  yaw  ge  sv  i  \  tsa  tse  li  ga 
ye  naw  |  tsa  gv  wi  yu  hi  |  ge  sv  i  \  a  le  |  dsa  li  ni  gi  di  yi  |  ge  sv  i  \  a  le  |  e 
dsa  Iv  quo  di  yu  |  ge  sv  \  ni  gaw  hi  Iv  i  \  e  me  n 

Our  Father  |  heaven  dweller,  |  Hallowed  |  be  |  thy  name,  j  Thy  king- 
dom I  let  it  make  its  appearance.  |  Here  upon  earth  |  take  place  j  Thy 
will,  I  the  same  as  |  in  heaven  |  [it]  is  done.  |  Daily  [adj.]  |  our  food 
give  to  us  |  this  day.  |  Forgive  us  |  our  debts,  |  the  same  as  |  we  for- 
give |  our  debtors.  |  And  do  not  |  temptation  being  |  lead  us  into  [it].  |  De- 
liver us  from  |  evil  existing.  |  For  thine  |  the  kingdom  |  is,  |  and  |  the 
power  |  is,  |  and  |  the  glory  |  is,  |  forever  |  amen. 


THE  PEESS.  343 

The  late  Dr.  Eli  Smith,  of  the  Syria  mission,  with  the  aid 
of  Mr.  Homan  Hallack,  formerly  in  charge  of  the  press  at 
Malta  and  Smyrna,  introduced  a  new  and  beautiful  form  of 
Arabic  type  into  the  books  printed  at  the  mission  press  in 
Syria,  based  on  the  perfect  calligraphy  of  the  smaller  Koranic 
manuscripts.  The  printed  page,  thus  resembling  the  manu- 
script, falls  in  with  the  Arab  prejudice,  and  all  the  printing 
has  since  been  in  this  type,  which  is  thus  described  by  the 
mission  after  it  had  been  three  years, in  use:  "It  is  vastly 
superior  in  respect  to  the  form  of  the  letters.  Such  is  the 
uniform  and  decided  testimony  of  intelligent  natives  every 
where.  Our  books  are  incomparably  more  acceptable  than 
those  which  were  printed  with  the  old  type ;  more  acceptable, 
we  may  safely  say,  in  respect  to  typography,  than  any  that 
were  ever  printed  in  the  language.  And  not  only  are  the  let- 
ters more  beautiful  than  the  old,  but,  bearing  a  closer  resem- 
blance to  the  best  calligraphy,  they  are,  of  course,  far  prefera- 
ble for  the  use  of  schools,  and  especially  for  all  who  are 
learning  to  write. "* 

Mr.  Edward  Breath,  who  has  long  had  the  management  of 
the  press  and  foundery  at  Ooroomiah,  has  satisfied  the  Nesto- 
rian  taste  by  his  success  in  cutting  a  type  in  exact  imitation 
of  the  plain,  heavy  letter  of  the  Syriac  manuscripts. 

The  number  of  languages  in  which  books  have  been  printed 
at  the  presses  owned  by  the  Board  ^s^orty-thre^X^aniely,  the  : 
Modern  Greek,  Hebrew,  Spanish,  Armenian,  Turkish,!  Bulga- 
rian, Arabic,  Syriac,  Mahratta,  Gujarate,  Sanscrit,  Hindoostauee, 
Portuguese,  Persian,  Tamil,  Telugu,  Siamese,  Malay,  Bugis, 
Dyak,  Chinese,  Japanese,  Hawaiian,  Marquesas,  Micronesian, 
Greybo,  Mpongwe,  Dikele,  Zulu-Kaffir,  Cherokee,  Choctaw, 
Creek,  Osage,  Ojibwa,  Ottawa,  Seneca,  Abenaquis,  Sioux  or 
Dakota,  Pawnee,  three  in  Oregon,  and  the  English.  The  fact 
is  worth  recording,  that  no  less  than  twenty  of  these  languages 
were  spoken  by  missionaries  assembled  at  the  house  of  the 

*  Report  of  the  Board,  1844,  p.  135. 

t  Armeno-Turkish  and  Greco-Turkish  do  not  denote  languages  so  much  as 
the  manner  of  writing  the  Turkish  language. 


344 


THE  MISSIONS. 


writer  of  these  pages,  on  the  evening  following  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  Board. 

A  tabular  view  will  show  the  number  of  printing  establish- 
ments that  have  been  owned  and  employed  at  different  times 
by  the  missions  under  the  care  of  the  Board ;  when  they  were 
instituted  and  discontinued ;  the  number  of  presses,  fonts, 
founderies,  and  binderies  ;  the  number  of  languages,  and  the 
amount  of  printing. 


MISSIONS. 

Printing 
Establishments. 

Instituted. 

Presscl. 

90 

1 

h 

Fouudcrles. 

Binderies. 

Lanpunpps  cm- 
ployed. 

Discontinued. 

|i 

A 

lit 

fi£l 

West  Africa,    .    .     . 
South  Africa,  .     .     . 

1 
1 
1 

1837 
1836 

l,S-»r 

1 
1 
0 

1 
1 
10 

1 

1 

3 

1 
fi 

1852f 

2,500,000 
2,000,000 
191  805  860 

1 

1835 

3 

4 

1 

1 

1 

28  47'>  800 

Nestorians,      .    .     . 
Mahrattas,  .... 

1 
1 
1 

1841 
1816 
1839 

1 
9 

T> 

5 
15 

16 

1 
1 
1 

1 
1 
1 

1 
6 
S 

1859 

15,263,720 
130,000,000 
357,969,621 

Ceylon,    

1 

1821 

4 

3 

1 

1 

1 

185-5 

171,747,198 

1 

1835 

9 

3 

1 

1 

1 

1848 

11,600,813 

Singapore,   .... 

1 
1 

1&34 
1833 

2 
? 

8 
4 

1 

1 

5 
1 

1842 
1857t 

14,071,168 
25,000,000 

Sandwich  Islands,    . 
Cherokees,$     .    .    . 
Choctaws,    .... 

1 
1 

1820 
1835 
1825 

2 
1 

4 
2 

1 

1 

2 

1 
1 

1859 
1861 
1848 

200,000,000 
13,918,800 
3,788,300 

Sioux  or  Dakotas,    . 

1 
1 

991,000 
68,000 

1 

1,841,000 

1 

63,OfH) 

New  York  Indians,  . 
Pawnees,      .... 

1 
1 

1 
1 

1 
1 

1 
1 

I 

1848 

459,676 
4,907,100 
300,000 

Abenaquis,  .... 

1 

63,000 

Total,     .    .     . 

15 

44 

78 

9 

9 

430 

1,176,831,056 

There  have  been  fifteen  printing  establishments.  At  Constan- 
tinople, the  Board  now  owns  only  the  Armenian  types.  In 

*  Commenced  in  Malta,  afterward  at  Smyrna  and  Constantinople. 

t  Types  owned  from  this  time,  but  not  the  presses. 

J  Destroyed  by  fire  in  the  war  of  that  year. 

§  The  Cherokee  printing  was  begun  at  New  Echota,  at  a  press  owned  by  the 
tribe,  in  1829.  The  Choctaw  printing  began  in  1825,  and,  with  that  in  the 
greater  part  of  the  Indian  languages,  was  executed  out  of  the  nation. 

||  The  number  of  languages,  not  including  the  English,  is  really  forty-two- 
The  Ceylon  and  Madras  presses  both  made  use  of  the  Tamil. 


THE  PRESS.  345 

Ceylon,  the  establishment  was  sold  to  native  Christian  printers 
in  1855.  Those  at  Bombay  and  the  Sandwich  Islands  were 
sold  because  the  needful  printing  could  be  executed  at  other 
presses.  The  Siajmese  and  Singapore  presses  were  transferred 
to  Canton  ;  and  the  Cherokee  and  Oregon  establishments 
ceased  with  the  missions.  The  printing  establishment  at  Can- 
ton was  burned  by  the  Chinese  in  their  war  with  England,  but 
They  have  since  refunded  the  value  of  it.  The  Armenian, 
Arabic,  and  Syriac  types  were  cast  from  matrices  prepared  at 
the  expense  of  the  Board.  The  number  of  pages  printed  in 
tho^forty-two  ^foreign  languages  employed  by  the  missionaries 
of  the  Board,  exceeds  the  number  mentioned  in  the  table  ; 
which  is  eleven  hundred  and  seventy-six  million  eight  hun- 
dred and  thirty-one  thousand  and  fifty-six. 

Several  of  the  printing  establishments  have  at  times  been 
sources  of  income,  especially  where  they  went  into  job-print- 
ing in  the  English  language.  The  Bombay_^ress^jearned  forty- 

and   forty-three  dollars  in  the 


__ 

eight  years  ending  with  1853.  The  presses  at  Madras,  Can- 
ton,  and  elsewhere,  have  been  productive  in  this  way.  But  it 
has  not  been  deemed  expedient,  on  the  whole,  to  continue  job- 
printing  in  the  English  language  ;  nor,  indeed,  to  keep  up  the 
establishments  on  a  scale  for  any  great  amount  of  remunera- 
tive job-printing  even  in  the  vernaculars,  with  the  single  ex- 
ception of  the  one  at  Madras  ;  it  being  found  that  there  was 
necessarily  too  great  a  tax  upon  the  time  of  the  missionary 
superintendent. 

44 


CHAPTER    IX. 

DEPUTATIONS. 

Visits  to  Missions  necessary.  — Mr.  Evarts  to  the  Indian  Missions,  1818.  —  Dr.  Worces- 
ter, 1821.  —  Mr.  Evarts,  1822  and  1824.  —  Changes  required  by  Experience.  —  Mr.  Greene, 
1827, 1833,  and  1842.  —  Changes. — Mr.  Anderson  to  the  Mediterranean,  1828, 9.  —  Messrs. 
Anderson  and  Hawes,  1843, 4.  —  Results.  —  Mr.  Treat  to  the  Cherokee  and  Choctaw  Mis- 
sions, 1847.  —  Objects  of  the  Visit.  —  Christian  Fellowship.  —  Mr.  Treat  to  Cattaraugus, 
1849,  and  to  Dakotas  and  Ojibwas,  1854.  —  Dr.  "Wood  to  Cherokee  and  Choctaw  Missions, 
1855.  —  Messrs.  Anderson  and  Thompson  to  the  India  Missions,  1854,  5.  —  Dr.  An- 
derson to  the  Mediterranean,  1855. —  Proceedings  in  the  India  Missions.  —  Reports 
and  Letters.  —  Main  Object  of  the  Discussions.  —  Course  of  the  Deputation  arraigned 
at  Utica,  1855.  —  Special  Meeting  of  the  Board  in  Albany,  1856.  —  Report  of  the  Depu- 
tation.—  Case  referred  to  a  Special  Committee.  —  Correspondence  with  the  Missiona- 
ries.—  Report  of  the  Special  Committee,  and  Resolutions  of  the  Board.  —  Resolutions 
of  the  Prudential  Committee.  —  Results  of  these  Occurrences. 

THEY  whose  posts  of  duty  are  at  the  centers  of  great  mis- 
sionary systems,  are  more  favorably  situated  than  the  members 
of  any  one  mission  can  be,  for  obtaining  comprehensive,  prac- 
tical views  of  missionary  principles  and  measures.  All  the 
rays  of  missionary  experience  converge  to  the  center ;  and  a 
wise  disbursement  of  the  funds  requires  a  constant  applica- 
tion of  principles  to  missions  in  their  ever-varying  circum- 
stances and  relations.  Generally,  sufficient  information  for 
this  purpose  is  gained  from  correspondence,  and  from  personal 
intercourse  with  returned  missionaries.  But  sometimes  it  is 
needful  for  some  one  of  the  executive  officers  —  generally  the 
Secretary  in  charge  of  the  correspondence  with  the  mission 
—  to  go  and  confer  with  the  brethren  face  to  face.  The  larger 
English  and  European  Missionary  Societies  have  been  in  this 
practice  from  an  early  period.  This  has  not  been  with  the 
expectation  of  obtaining  information  which  the  brethren  in 
the  field  can  not  embody  in  their  correspondence,  but  to  secure 
the  advantages  of  the  freest  possible  interchange  of  opinions. 

(340) 


DEPUTATIONS.  347 

To  go,  when  it  can  be  done,  is  better  than  to  write.  A  cor- 
respondence across  a  thousand  or  ten  thousand  miles  is  a 
slow  process  ;  and  when  much  is  pending,  and  there  is  a  con- 
sequent liability  to  excited  feelings,  misunderstandings  are  apt 
to  arise,  and  to  retard,  if  they  do  not  prevent  or  impair,  the 
proper  results ;  while  a  few  days  or  weeks  of  familiar  con- 
ference would  suffice  for  their  easy  and  perfect  attainment. 

The  earliest  deputation  sent  by  the  Board  was  in  the  spring 
of  1818,  when  Mr.  Evarts,  the  Treasurer,  visited  the  Cherokee 
mission,  then  just  entering  its  untried  and  complicated  labors. 
He  was  met  there  by  the  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius,  who  com- 
menced his  career  of  usefulness  as  an  agent  of  the  Board. 
The  visit  was  alike  satisfactory  to  the  mission  and  to  the  Pru- 
dential Committee. 

In  the  spring  of  1821,  Dr.  Worcester,  the  Corresponding 
Secretary,  principally  with  the  hope  of  restoring  his  failing 
health,  undertook  a  visit  to  the  missions  among  the  Choctaws 
and  Cherokees.  On  his  arrival  in  the  Choctaw  country,  going 
up  from  New  Orleans,  he  had  become  so  much  enfeebled  that 
he  could  only  make  brief  visits  to  some  of  the  stations,  speak- 
ing words  of  Christian  sympathy  and  encouragement  to  the 
mission  families.  He  proceeded  to  Brainerd,  among  the  Cher- 
okees, and  there,  sinking  under  the  weight  of  disease  and  the 
fatigue  of  the  journey,  he  closed  his  earthly  labors.  His 
heavenly  spirit  and  his  prayers  were  a  source  of  strength  and 
comfort  to  all  who  were  favored  with  his  presence. 

Mr.  Evarts,  as  Corresponding  Secretary,  made  a  second 
visit  to  the  Cherokee  mission  in  1822,  having,  as  011  the  former 
occasion,  a  partial  reference  to  his  impaired  health.  He  was 
accompanied  by  the  Rev.  William  Goodell,  now  of  the  mission 
to  Turkey,  then  an  agent  of  the  Board,  and  under  appoint- 
ment as  a  missionary.  The  Rev.  Cyrus  Kingsbury,  who  had 
gone  from  the  Cherokee  mission  to  commence  one  among  the 
Choctaws,  met  him  at  Brainerd  for  a  free  conference  on  the 
affairs  of  both  missions. 

Mr.  Evarts  made  a  third  visit  to  the  Cherokee  mission  in 
the  early  part  of  1824,  and  extended  his  official  tour  to  the 


348  THE  MISSIONS. 

stations  of  the  Choctaw  mission.  The  Indian  missions  had 
then  a  complicated  system  of  labors,  including  missionaries, 
schoolmasters,  farmers,  and  mechanics  of  several  kinds.  This 
may  have  arisen  partly  from  the  cooperation  of  the  United 
States  government  in  the  support  of  the  schools  and  secular 
operations  of  the  missions  ;  but  the  religious  sentiment  of 
those  times  was  in  favor  of  this  mixed  operation,  to  civilize 
the  savage  while  aiming  at  his  conversion  and  the  institution 
of  Christian  communities.  The  difficult  question  was,  how  to 
keep  this  complicated  machinery  in  easy,  constant,  vigorous 
motion. 

Dr.  Worcester  was  too  ill,  when  he  reached  the  Cherokee 
mission,  to  do  any  thing  there.  But  in  his  brief  address  to 
the  Choctaw  mission,  he  said,  "The  mission 'among  the  Choc- 
taws  is  one.  It  is  designed  to  occupy  different  stations,  and 
to  be  in  different  divisions  ;  all  to  be  under  a  general  superin- 
tendence. Each  primary  establishment  is  to  have  a  head,  or 
rector,  who  is  to  be  also  an  ordained  minister.  The  work, 
besides,  is  to  be  divided  into  several  parts,  and  to  be  assigned 
to  different  persons,  according  to  their  respective  qualifications. 
You  are  all  indeed  brethren,  and  are  always  to  regard  your- 
selves as  such.  Nevertheless,  there  are,  and  must  be,  distinc- 
tions of  a  very  important  kind.  So  it  is  in  the  church.  It 
has  its  distinctions  of  office,  —  of  labor  and  service,  order  and 
subordination,  —  distinctions  according  to  the  will  of  God. 
Besides  the  general  principles  of  the  Bible,  which  imply  order 
and  subordination,  there  are  several  chapters  in  the  Epistles 
on  the  subject.  This  order  is  of  no  less  importance  on  mis- 
sionary ground  than  elsewhere." 

The  evils  naturally  attendant  on  this  system  had  become  de- 
veloped at  the  time  of  Mr.  Evarts's  third  visit.  The  plan  pro- 
posed by  Dr.  Worcester  for  the  Indian  missions  was  upon  the 
supposition  that  when  a  considerable  number  of  individuals  are 
laboring  together,  they  may  be  saved  the  inconvenience  of  joint 
consultations  by  explicit  directions  from  the  Committee,  or  by 
a  delegated  power  of  superintendence  to  some  one  of  their 
number.  Mr.  Evarts  found,  that  whatever  explicit  directions 


DEPUTATIONS.  349 

the  Committee  had  given,  had  been  promptly  followed ;  but 
that  it  was  impossible  for  persons  at  a  distance  to  enter  into 
the  details  of  different  operations,  carried  on  simultaneously 
at  the  same  place,  and  changing  daily.  He  was  more  than 
ever  impressed  with  the  fact,  that  the  system  of  missionary 
operations  must  be  a  system  of  mutual  confidence,  and  that 
the  services  10  be  rendered  by  those  who  devote  themselves  to 
the  work,  must  be  in  the  largest  sense  voluntary  and  free.  It 
was  a  delicate  matter  to  establish  any  system  of  subordination 
that  should  even  seem  to  encroach  upon  this  freedom,  or  to 
have  the  effect  of  placing  one  class  of  laborers  under  the  direc- 
tion of  another.  Those  to  whom  authority  might  be  intrusted, 
would  feel  a  hesitation  in  using  it,  so  that  it  would  in  fact 
avail  but  little ;  and  those  who  were  placed  under  their  breth- 
ren would  be  apt  to  feel  a  constraint  and  unwillingness  which 
might  grow  into  a  settled  disaffection  to  the  work.  "  It  is  well 
known,"  Mr.  Evarts  said,  "  that  where  a  considerable  number 
of  persons  are  to  act  together,  though  they  all  possess  the  best 
intentions,  the  same  economy  can  not  be  practiced  as  would 
be  practiced  by  the  same  persons  individually.  This  state  of 
things  arises  from  a  commendable  disposition  to  yield  to  each 
other,  as  far  as  possible  ;  from  different  habits  of  economy ; 
from  a  divided  responsibility ;  and  from  a  constant  tendency 
to  relax  in  exertions  which  are  shared  by  many.  It  has  been 
supposed,  that  a  division  of  labor,  which  should  render  each 
individual  accountable  for  a  particular  department,  would 
answer  the  end  of  securing  individual  responsibility,  and  pre- 
vent interference  with  each  other's  duties.  This  course  has 
been  repeatedly  attempted  ;  but  so  numerous  are  the  interrup- 
tions of  any  regular  plan  at  a  missionary  station,  from  the 
visits  of  natives  and  travelers,  from  sickness,  from  a  failure  of 
supplies,  and  from  a  great  variety  of  unexpected  events,  that 
very  soon  the  arrangement  has  been  broken  up,  one  person 
after  another  has  been  called  from  his  assigned  sphere  to  meet 
exigencies  in  some  other  part  of  the  system,  and  affairs  have 
relapsed  into  their  original  state." 

These  difficulties  would  never  have  been  thoroughly  under- 


350  THE  MISSIONS. 

stood  except  by  experience ;  but  being  understood,  the  Com- 
mittee came  thus  early  to  the  following  conclusions,  which 
subsequent  experience  has  fully  sustained :  "  That  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  heathen  in  Christian  knowledge  and  true  piety  is 
the  great  object  of  missions,  and  should  never  be  merged  in 
a  mass  of  secular  cares  ;  that  mission  schools  are  principally 
to  be  valued  as  a  means  of  communicating  divine  truth  ;  that 
the  main  reliance  should  be  on  the  plain  doctrines  of  the  gos- 
pel for  any  permanent  melioration  of  the  character  and  con- 
dition of  any  heathen  people ;  that  the  secular  labors  in  a 
mission  should  be  as  few  and  as  simple  as  possible ;  and  that 
but  few  missionaries  and  assistants  ought  to  reside  at  one  sta- 
tion." The  changes  now  brought  about  in  the  internal  ar- 
rangements of  the  Cherokee  mission,  were  based  upon  these 
principles. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  in  1826,  an  arrangement  was 
concluded  with  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  by 
which  the  missions  of  that  society  among  the  Osages,  the  Otta- 
was,  and  the  Indians  at  Mackinaw,  and  in  Western  New  York, 
were  transferred  to  the  Board.  Preliminary  steps  were  also 
taken  for  receiving  the  Chickasaw  mission,  instituted  by  the 
Synod  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  In  view  of  this  pro- 
spective enlargement  of  the  Board's  operations,  and  in  order 
to  become  personally  acquainted  with  the  new  missions,  a  plan 
was  formed  for  an  extended  visitation,  by  .Mr.  Evarts,  of  all  the 
stations  among  the  south-western  Indians,  accompanied  by  the 
Rev.  David  Greene,  who  had  been  appointed  an  Assistant  Sec- 
retary, and  to  whom  the  correspondence  with  the  Indian  mis- 
sions was  to  be  specially  confided.  Events  prevented  Mr. 
Evarts  from  making  this  tour,  and  Mr.  Greene,  in  the  autumn 
of  1827,  entered  upon  it  alone.  After  meeting  the  Synod  of 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia  in  Charleston,  and  consummating 
the  transfer  of  the  Chickasaw  mission,  he  proceeded  to  the 
country  of  the  Cherokees,  and  visited  all  the  stations,  aiding 
the  mission  families  in  arrangements  for  the  more  efficient 
prosecution  of  the  labors  in  the  several  departments  of  their 
work.  During  this  visit,  the  font  of  Cherokee  type  in  the 


DEPUTATIONS.  351 

peculiar  alphabetical  character  of  Guess,  and  the  printing- 
press  which  had  been  purchased  at  the  expense  of  the  tribe, 
were  put  in  operation.  It  was  the  first  press  ever  owned  by 
an  Indian  tribe,  or  devoted  exclusively  to  their  use ;  and  it 
employed  the  only  new  alphabetic  character  that  had  been 
invented  for  many  centuries. 

Having  finished  his  work  among  the  Cherokees,  Mr.  Greene 
proceeded  to  the  Chickasaw  country,  and  visited  all  the  sta- 
tions, aiding  the  missionaries  in  adjusting  their  affairs  to  their 
new  relations.  Passing  on  to  the  Choctaw  mission,  he  spent 
several  weeks  in  labors  similar  to  those  performed  among  the 
Cherokees. 

In  company  with  Mr.  Kingsbury,  whom  the  Prudential 
Committee  had  associated  with  him  for  the  stations  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  he  proceeded  to  the  Arkansas  Cherokees.  The 
affairs  of  the  several  stations  were  carefully  inspected,  and 
such  changes  brought  about  as  promised  to  render  the  opera- 
tions of  the  missions  more  harmonious  and  efficient. 

The  deputation  then  visited  the  mission  among  the  Osages, 
where,  in  consequence  of  its  unsettled  state  during  the  process 
of  transition  from  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  to 
the  Board,  their  arrival  seemed  most  opportune.  This  mission 
presented  some  new  features  and  difficulties,  in  consequence 
of  its  being  among  a  migratory  and  untutored  tribe.  As  the 
result  of  consultation,  the  mission  was  placed  on  a  new  and 
more  satisfactory  footing. 

Having  finished  their  work  in  the  Osage  mission,  Mr.  Kings- 
bury  returned  by  way  of  St.  Louis,  and  Mr.  Greene  pursued 
his  way  to  the  Ottawas,  in  the  north-west  part  of  Ohio,  and 
then  to  the  Tuscaroras  and  Senecas,  in  Western  New  York. 
With  these  missions  the  tour  was  concluded,  having  extended 
through  eight  months,  and  required  about  five  thousand  miles 
of  travel. 

In  the  summer  of  1829,  Mr.  Greene  visited  the  mission  at 
Mackinaw,  and  the  one  near  Green  Bay  —  the  only  missions 
among  the  Indians  which  he  had  not  previously  seen.  The 
former  .was  among  those  transferred  from  the  United  Foreign 


352  THE  MISSIONS, 

Missionary  Society,  and  the  latter  had  been  recently  estab- 
lished by  the  Board.  Important  necessary  changes  were 
effected.  Mr.  Greene  made  a  second  visit  to  Mackinaw  in 
1833.  In  1842,  the  Indians  in  Western  New  York  having 
disposed  of  one  of  their  reservations  on  which  was  a  mission- 
ary station,  it  was  deemed  expedient  for  the  same  Secretary 
to  repeat  his  visit  to  that  mission. 

These  official  visits  had  the  effect  to  diminish  the  expendi- 
tures of  the  missions  to  an  amount  far  greater  than  their  cost. 
They  also  threw  much  light  on  the  path  of  the  Prudential 
Committee,  and  were  an  important  means  of  increasing  the 
harmony  and  efficiency  of  the  several  missions.  The  changes 
resulted  for  the  most  part,  at  least  in  later  years,  from  the  free 
action  of  the  missions.  Still,  to  a  very  great  extent,  they 
could  not  have  been  as  well  effected,  if  at  all,  without  a  visit 
of  this  sort.  The  presence  of  a  deputation  of  course  created 
a  necessity  for  the  mission's  reviewing  its  entire  system  of 
action,  and  subjecting  every  important  part  of  it  to  a  delib- 
erate conclusion  of  some  sort ;  and  all  under  the  advantage  of 
the  presence  of  one  intimately  conversant  with  the  views  of 
the  Prudential  Committee,  and  with  the  general  operations  of 
the  Board. 

In  the  year  1828,  the  members  of  the  Syria  mission,  com- 
pelled by  war  to  leave  Beirut,  were  all  on  the  Island  of  Malta. 
They  were  the  only  missionaries  of  the  Board  then  in  the 
countries  of  the  Mediterranean.  There  had  been  a  temporary 
occupation  of  Smyrna  on  two  occasions,  and  a  short  sojourn 
of  a  missionary  at  Constantinople.  The  mission  to  Greece 
was  of  later  origin,  and  so  was  that  to  the  Armenians  ;  while 
the  Nestorians  were  as  yet  unknown  to  the  Protestant  Chris- 
tian world.  The  battle  of  Navarino  had  liberated  Greece, 
after  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Morea  had  been  ravaged  and 
burned  by  Ibrahim  Pasha  ;  and  our  countrymen  were  send- 
ing shiploads  of  supplies  to  the  destitute  and  famishing  inhab- 
itants. 

A  variety  of  circumstances  conspired  to  make  it  seem  impor- 
tant to  the  Prudential  Committee,  that  some  one  conversant 


DEPUTATIONS.  353 

with  their  views  and  proceedings  should  visit  Malta  for  an 
extended  conference  with  the  missionaries  assembled  there ; 
and  it  was  decided  to  send  Mr.  Anderson,  then  Assistant  Sec- 
retary in  the  foreign  department.  He  was  instructed,  after 
having  completed  his  business  at  Malta,  to  visit  Greece,  which 
was  then  supposed  to  present  a  very  promising  field  for  mis- 
sionary enterprise.  It  was  among  the  reasons  for  this  agency, 
—  as  in  the  similar  mission  of  Mr.  Greene  to  the  Indian 
stations,  —  that  it  would  add  materially  to  the  ability  of  the 
Secretary  for  the  future  discharge  of  his  official  duties.  He 
reached  Malta  on  the  1st  of  January,  1829  ;  and  near  the 
close  of  February,  in  company  with  the  Rev.  Eli  Smith,  one 
of  the  missionaries,  —  afterward  extensively  known  by  his 
explorations  in  Armenia  and  the  Nestorian  country,  and  by 
his  labors  in  the  Arabic  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  —  he 
visited  the  Ionian  Islands,  the  Morea,  several  of  the  Greek 
Islands,  and  Smyrna.  From  thence  they  returned  to  Malta. 
While  at  ^Egina,  the  seat  of  the  Greek  government,  Mr. 
Anderson,  in  conformity  with  his  Instructions,  sought  an  inter- 
view with  Count  Capodistrias,  the  President  of  Greece,  who 
gave  written  replies  to  his  inquiries.  Perhaps  the  most 
important  thing  in  these  replies  was  the  declaration,  which 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  was  sincere,  that  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  Modern  Greek  should  be  among  the  books  for 
use  in  the  common  schools.  The  Rev.  Jonas  King,  who  was 
then  in  Greece  in  charge  of  one  of  the  cargoes  of  provis- 
ions sent  to  the  impoverished  people,  assisted  in  some  part 
of  this  intercourse.  Mr.  King  soon  afterward  renewed  his 
connection  with  the  Board,  —  having  for  several  years  subse- 
quent to  1823  been'  the  associate  of  the  Rev.  Pliny  Fisk  in 
Syria,  —  and  has  continued  his  useful  labors  in  Greece  down 
to  this  day,  residing  first  on  the  Island  of  Tenos,  and  then  in 
Athens,  which  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  reoccupy  subsequent 
to  the  war  of  revolution.  It  was  mainly  through  an  influence 
exerted  at  that  time,  and  continued  by  Dr.  King,  that  the 
Modern  Greek  Scriptures,  or  at  least  the  New  Testament, 
45 


354  THE   MISSIONS. 

became,  and  has  ever  been,  a  school  book  in  Greece.     Mr. 
Anderson  returned  to  Boston  near  the  close  of  1829.* 

The  Greek  mission,  during  thirteen  years  from  the  time  of 
its  institution,  went  through  a  process  of  growth  and  decline, 
till  the  Prudential  Committee  were  at  a  loss  what  to  do 
with  it.  The  Armenian  mission  was  then  having  a  pros- 
perous development  in  the  populous  suburbs  of  Constanti- 
nople, and  in  some  of  the  northern  sections  of  Asia  Minor ; 
and,  both  there  and  in  Syria,  fundamental  questions  in  mis- 
sionary policy  had  ripened  for  discussion,  which  was  needful 
both  for  the  missions  and  for  the  Committee.  It  was  therefore 
decided,  in  1844,  to  send  Dr.  Anderson,  who  had  long  been 
Secretary  for  the  foreign  department,  once  more  to  the  Med- 
iterranean. Happily,  the  Rev.  Joel  Hawes,  D.  D.,  of  Hart- 
ford. Conn.,  had  resolved  to"  visit  the  East  at  that  time,  in 
company  with  his  only  daughter,  Mrs.  Van  Lennep,  going, 
with  her  husband,  to  join  the  Armenian  mission,  and  he 
was  requested  to  render  such  aid  to  the  Secretary  as  his  plans 
and  convenience  might  allow.  In  point  of  fact,  the  two 
brethren  were  associated  in  every  journey  and  in  every  meet- 
ing while  on  mission  ground  ;  and  the  service  rendered  by  Dr. 
Hawes  was  highly  appreciated  by  the  missions,  and  of  much 
value  to  the  cause.  The  more  important  places  visited  were 
Athens,  Smyrna,  Constantinople,  Brusa,  Trebizond,  Beirut, 
and  Jerusalem ;  and  somewhat  more  than  sixty  meetings  were 
held  with  the  brethren  of  the  missions.  The  results  can  not 
here  be  enumerated.  Those  in  Syria  —  on  the  best  manner 
of  cultivating  the  field  —  will  serve  as  a  specimen.  "It  was 
agreed,  that  the  grand  aim  of  our  mission  is  of  course  the 

*  Some  are  yet  living,  who  may  remember  how  much  the  interest  of  the 
United  Monthly  Concert  in  Park-street  Church  was  increased,  on  the  first 
Monday  evening  of  January,  1830,  by  the  choir  under  the  direction  of  Dr. 
Lowell  Mason,  when,  at  the  close  of  a  statement  by  Mr.  Anderson,  they  sang 
the  hymn,  — 

1  Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night, 
What  its  signs  of  promise  are,"  — 

in  the  well-known  strains,  then  recently  composed  by  Dr.  Mason,  and  for  the 
first  time  heard  in  public. 


DEPUTATIONS.  355 

converting  of  men  to  God  ;  that  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
is  the  great,  divinely-appointed  means  to  this  end  ;  that  when- 
ever and  wherever  there  are  small  companies  of  natives  ready 
to  make  a  credible  profession  of  piety,  they  are  to  be  recog- 
nized as  churches,  entitled  to  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  to  such  a  ministry  as  can  be  given 
them ;  that  the  reformed  churches  are  to  have  no  reference  to 
any  of  the  degenerate  Oriental  churches,  and  may  be  expected 
to  combine  persons  from  several,  and  perhaps  all,  the  various 
sects  existing  in  the  mountains;  and  that  the  method  of 
church  organization  and  administration  should  involve  the 
principle  of  throwing  such  responsibility  011  every  individual 
member,  as  will  develop  his  talents  and  Christian  graces  to 
the  utmost  possible  extent." 

As  the  closing  of  the  Greek  mission  —  except  so  far  as  it 
could  be  prosecuted  by  Dr.  King  alone  at  Athens  —  was  one 
of  the  more  important  results  of  the  inquiries  and  consulta- 
tions in  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  and  Constantinople,  the  dark  pic- 
ture of  the  religious  state  of  the  Greek  mind,  at  that  time, 
givAi  by  the  Secretary  in  his  report,  will  interest  the  thought- 
ful reader.  "  To  me,"  he  says,  "  the  condition  of  the  Greek 
mind,  in  relation  to  evangelical  efforts  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Greek  people,  appears  altogether  extraordinary.  We  are  not 
mistaken  in  the  material  facts  in  the  case.  The  Greeks  have 
retired  from  us.  To  a  most  affecting  extent  they  have  become 
inaccessible  to  our  preaching,  our  books,  and  our  influence. 
They  will  no  longer  hear  us  ;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  it 
is  now  true,  that  few  of  them  read  when  we  address  them 
through  the  press  on  the  subjects  of  vital  godliness.  I  do  not 
see  where  or  in  what  way  the  Greek  mind  is,  to  any  consid- 
erable extent,  approachable,  just  now,  to  a  spiritual  influence 
from  Protestant  ministers  of  the  gospel.  The  political  state 
of  the  Greek  mind  —  grasping  after  the  recovery  of  Constan- 
tinople and  the  restoration  of  the  Eastern  empire,  and  relying 
on  the  unity  of  the  Greek  Church  as  a  means  to  this  end  — 
has  a  wonderful  influence  on  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the 
whole  community,  especially  the  higher  classes.  I  ain  reluc- 


356  THE  MISSIONS. 

taut  to  mention  also  the  national  pride  of  the  Greeks,  which 
has  been  much  increased  since  the  revolution,  and  their  strong 
aversion  to  strangers,  and  certain  other  traits  in  their  character, 
all  combining  to  render  it  difficult  for  foreigners  to  gain  their 
confidence  or  awaken  their  gratitude  by  acts  of  kindness  and 
benevolence.  And  then  there  are  the  high,  arrogant  assump- 
tions of  the  Greek  Church,  which  is  more  exclusive  than  the 
Roman ;  claiming  for  her  clergy  the  only  apostolical  succes- 
sion, and  for  her  trine  immersion,  performed  by  her  clergy, 
the  only  baptism ;  and  regarding  that  baptism  as  having  a 
regenerative  power,  and  all  who  are  not  thus  baptized  as 
beyond  the  pale  of  the  Christian  church  and  the  hope  of  salva- 
tion. Of  course  all  Protestant  preachers  of  every  name,  epis- 
copal and  non-episcopal,  are  looked  upon  as  unbaptized  here- 
tics. There  is,  moreover,  the  tyranny  of  the  Greek  Church, 
and  the  dreadful  terror  of  excommunication  on  the  part  of 
the  people,  requiring  the  deepest  convictions  of  the  truth  to 
sustain  the  inquirer  against  the  threats  of  his  spiritual  guides  ; 
and,  connected  with  this,  there  is  the  almost  universal  and 
decided  hostility  of  the  Greek  clergy  to  every  Protestant  move- 
ment. The  patriarch  and  synod  at  Constantinople  are  believed 
to  be  not  less  opposed  to  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  in 
the  vernacular  tongue,  than  the  pope  and  cardinals  at  Rome. 
And  it  is  time  for  us  to  consider  the  disproportion  that  exists 
between  the  means  that  have  been  employed  and  the  results. 
Twenty-seven  ordained  missionaries  of  different  denominations 
have  labored  more  or  less  in  this  field.  A  million  copies  of 
books  and  tracts  have  been  printed  by  different  missionary 
societies,  and  scattered  broadcast  over  the  Greek  community. 
Two  hundred  thousand  copies  of  the  New  Testament,  and 
parts  of  the  Old,  have  been  put  in  circulation  in  the  Modern 
Greek  language.  Not  a  small  number  of  Greek  young  men 
have  been  educated  in  America  and  England,  by  benevolent 
individuals  and  societies  ;  and  more  than  ten  thousand  Greek 
youth  have  been  more  or  less  educated  in  Greece  and  Turkey 
at  the  schools  of  the  various  missions.  And  yet,  not  ten  per- 
sons are  known,  who  are  confidently  believed  to  have  been 


DEPUTATIONS.  357 

truly  converted  to  God  by  these  means  !/  How  unlike  these 
results  to  those  we  find  among  the  Armenians  ! " 

In  1847,  the  Prudential  Committee  thought  it  desirable 
that  a  visit  should  be  made  to  the  Cherokee  and  Choctaw 
missions.  Mr.  Greene  was  designated  for  this  service,  in  the 
first  instance  ;  but,  after  the  Annual  Meeting  at  Buffalo,  it 
was  found  that  his  health  would  be  unequal  to  such  a  journey. 
It  became  necessary,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Treat,  one  of  the  Cor- 
responding Secretaries,  should  take  his  place. 

The  object  of  the  Committee  was  twofold.  They  wished  to 
become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  state  and  prospects 
of  the  missions,  and  with  their  relations,  and  those  of  the 
churches  under  their  care,  to  the  subject  of  slavery. 

Mr.  Treat  left  Boston  on  the  30th  of  November..  His  route 
was  by  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  to  Pittsburg ; 
thence  by  the  Ohio,  Mississippi,  and  Arkansas  Rivers  to  Little 
Rock.  The  rest  of  the  way  to  the  Cherokee  Nation  he  trav- 
eled on  horseback,  arriving  at  Dwight,  January  4,  1848.  It 
has  been  practicable,  quite  recently,  to  reach  the  same  point 
in  one  week.  Among  the  Cherokees,  he  visited  every  station 
of  the  Board,  in  company  with  Mr.  Willey,  as  also  the  stations 
of  the  Baptists  and  Moravians,  and  conferred  freely  with  such 
persons  as  were  most  competent  to  impart  the  information 
which  he  needed,  wherever  they  might  be  found.  Mr.  But- 
rick,  who  had  identified  himself  with  the  interests  of  the  red 
man  for  thirty  years,  and  Messrs.  Butler  and  Worcester,  who 
had  suffered  imprisonment  for  the  maintenance  of  his  rights, 
were  then  among  the  living.  To  sit  down  with  these  breth- 
ren, and  hear  them  speak  of  their  labors,  their  trials,  the 
changes  which  had  passed  over  the  Indians,  the  triumphs 
which  the  gospel  had  achieved  in  the  transformation  of  indi- 
viduals, and  their  confident  belief  that  nothing  but  the  gospel 
could  save  the  aboriginal  race,  was  no  ordinary  privilege. 

A  meeting  of  the  Cherokee  mission  was  held  at  Dwight, 
after  the  different  stations  had  been  visited.  Various  ques- 
tions were  discussed,  the  subject  of  slavery  in  its  relations  +* 
the  work  of  Indian  evangelization  receiving  its  due  share  o. 


358  THE   MISSIONS. 

attention.  The  time  spent  in  devotional  exercises  threw  a 
hallowed  influence  around  the  deliberations  of  each  successive 
day.  The  fourth  Sabbatli  in  January  was  a  memorable  occa- 
sion. The  mission  families,  the  Indian  communicants,  and 
the  colored  communicants,  in  the  afternoon,  sat  together 
around  the  table  of  their  common  Lord,  with  the  feeling  that 
"  Christ  is  all  and  in  all." 

Owing  to  an  unexpected  rise  of  the  Choctaw  rivers,  an 
entire  week  was  required  for  the  journey  from  Dwight  to  Pine 
Ridge,  the  station  occupied  by  Mr.  Kingsbury.  On  his  way 
thither,  the  Secretary  visited  the  boarding  schools  at  Fort 
Coffee  and  Mount  Hope,  in  charge  of  the  Methodist  brethren  ; 
also  the  academy  at  Spencer,  under  the  direction  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Board.  The  institution  last  named  has  exerted  a 
greater  influence  upon  the  intellectual  progress  of  the  Choc- 
taws  than  any  other. 

Mr.  Treat  proceeded  at  once  to  visit  the  mission  families,  in 
doing  which  he  became  acquainted  with  many  intelligent  men, 
church  members  and  others,  with  more  or  less  of  aboriginal 
blood  in  their  veins  ;  and,  as  four  Sabbaths  were  spent  in  the 
Choctaw  country,  he  had  considerable  opportunity  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  churches. 

The  mission  assembled  at  Pine  Ridge  near  the  close  of  the 
month ;  but  in  view  of  what  is  already  known  to  the  public, 
there  is  no  occasion  to  speak  of  its  deliberations.  The  condi- 
tion and  prospects  of  the  missionary  work,  at  that  time,  were 
fully  set  forth  in  the  Annual  Report  for  1848.  Various  docu- 
ments, growing  out  of  the  relation  of  the  Indian  churches  to 
slavery,  were  submitted  to  the  Board  at  its  meeting  in  Boston, 
and  published  in  the  Report  for  the  same  year. 

Mr.  Treat  arrived  at  the  Missionary  House  after  an  absence 
of  seventeen  weeks,  having  journeyed  (including  eleven  hun- 
dred miles  on  horseback)  more  than  six  thousand  miles. 

Several  visits  have  also  been  made  by  Mr.  Treat  to  the  mis- 
sions in  Western  New  York.  The  first  of  these,  and  the  only 
one  that  will  be  mentioned  here,  occurred  in  1849,  when 
he  repaired  to  Cattaraugus  by  direction  of  the  Prudential 


DEPUTATIONS.  359 

Committee,  in  consequence  of  certain  complaints  which  had 
been  preferred  against  the  brethren  stationed  on  that  Reser- 
vation. The  year  1848,  it  will  be  recollected,  was  memora- 
ble for  its  revolutions.  The  last  of  these  was  inaugurated 
among  the  Senecas ;  the  government,  which  had  been  in  the 
hands  of  the  chiefs  from  time  immemorial,  having  been  sud- 
denly transferred  to  the  people.  Those  who  lost  place  and 
power  so  unexpectedly,  as  was  very  natural,  felt  aggrieved  by 
the  change ;  and  they  could  not  be  persuaded  that  the  mis- 
sionaries had  done  all  in  their  interest  which  they  had  a  right 
to  expect ;  on  the  contrary,  they  affirmed  that  the  influence 
of  these  brethren  had  been  employed  adversely  to  them.  Mr. 
Treat  soon  discovered  that  no  attempt  at  conciliation  was  like- 
ly to  succeed ;  hence  he  permitted  the  complainants  to  prefer 
their  charges  in  a  formal  manner,  and  support  them  with  such 
evidence  as  they  could  adduce,  the  missionaries  being  at  lib- 
erty to  introduce  rebutting  testimony.  Two  days  were  de- 
voted to  an  investigation  which  certainly  could  shelter  itself 
behind  no  precedent,  ancient  or  modern.  The  allegations 
were  peculiar,  both  in  form  and  substance ;  and  the  witnesses 
could  not  be  dissuaded  from  taking  the  widest  range  in  sub- 
mitting their  statements.  There  was  a  profusion  of  Indian 
oratory,  moreover ;  and  the  "  summing  up  "  threatened  at  one 
time  to  become  an  indefinite  debate.  The  result  was  favorably 
to  the  missionaries ;  and  the  Indian  character  appeared  well 
throughout  the  investigation.  With  a  large  share  of  persist- 
ency, there  was  mingled  a  good  degree  of  shrewdness  and 
intellectual  power.  Though  some  of  the  witnesses  exhibited 
the  deepest  interest  in  the  issue  of  the  question,  all  appeared 
to  be  honest. 

In  July,  1851,  treaties  were  entered  into  by  the  United 
States  government  and  four  bands  of  Dakota  Indians,  whereby 
the  latter  agreed  to  surrender  to  the  former,  at  the  end  of  two 
years,  the  immense  territory  lying  east  of  Lake  Traverse  and 
the  Sioux  River,  with  the  exception  of  a  tract  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  long  and  twenty  miles  wide,  including  the 
valley  of  the  Minnesota  River  from  Lake  Traverse  to  the  mouth 


360  THE  MISSIONS. 

of  Little  Rock  River.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States,  how- 
ever, refused  to  confirm  the  reservation  above  described,  but 
substituted  a  provision  which  allowed  the  Indians  to  occupy 
the  same  during  the  pleasure  of  the  President.  To  this 
change  the  Dakotas  subsequently  assented.  As  the  labors  of 
the  missionaries  had  been  chiefly  upon  the  ceded  territory,  a 
modification  of  the  plans  of  the  Committee  became  indispen- 
sable. Mr.  Treat  was  therefore  directed  to  visit  the  brethren 
who  remained  in  connection  with  the  Board  (two  having 
already  taken  their  release)  in  the  spring  of  1854.  He  left 
Boston  on  the  10th  of  May,  and  was  absent  till  the  30th  of 
June.  Having  reached  Traverse  des  Sioux  by  steamboat,  he 
proceeded  on  horseback  from  that  point  (then  the  western 
limit  of  civilization)  to  Lac-qui-parle,  distant  one  hundred 
and  thirty  miles.  Thence  he  returned  with  Mr.  Riggs  to  Yel- 
low Medicine,  the  station  of  Dr.  Williamson,  where  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  mission  commenced  its  sessions  on  the  2d  of 
June.  The  results  of  the  conference  which  followed,  are 
stated  in  the  Annual  Report  for  1854,  p.  173,  and  need  not  be 
repeated  here. 

Having  returned  to  St.  Paul,  Mr.  Treat  proceeded  north- 
ward to  Crow  Wing,  where  Rev.  S.  Hall,  with  others,  was 
commencing  a  new  station.  Here  the  Secretary  was  obliged 
to  contemplate  the  obstacles  which  the  feud  between  the  Da- 
kotas and  Ojibwas,  so  formidable  and  so  relentless,  had  sud- 
denly interposed.  There  were  other  hinderances,  moreover, 
which  made  it  a  grave  question  whether  the  Board  could 
be  justified  in  continuing  its  labors  in  that  locality.  When 
the  facts  were  reported  to  the  Committee,  they  concluded  to 
abandon  a  field  which  seemed  to  promise  so  much  of  trial 
and  so  little  of  success.  In  consequence  of  this  step,  Mr. 
Hall  became  a  home  missionary  at  Sauk  Rapids,  Minne- 
sota. 

In  1856,  Mr.  Treat  visited  Odanah,  the  station  which  Mr. 
Wheeler  occupies  among  the  Ojibwas.  He  was  able  to  take  a 
hopeful  view  of  a  field  that  was  comparatively  new,  and 
measures  were  considered  with  reference  to  a  more  vigorous 


DEPUTATIONS.  361 

prosecution  of  the  missionary  work,  which  in  due  time  re- 
ceived the  sanction  of  the  Prudential  Committee. 

In  the  spring  of  1855,  Dr.  Wood,  the  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary resident  in  New  York,  was  commissioned  to  visit  the 
Choctaw  and  Cherokee  missions,  to  make  further  efforts  for 
removing  the  difficulties  growing  out  of  the  question  of  slavery. 
He  spent  a  part  of  the  mouths  of  April  and  May  in  the  two 
missions,  in  the  most  free  and  fraternal  conference  with  the 
brethren.  His  subsequent  report  to  the  Prudential  Commit- 
tee was  approved  by  the  Board  assembled  at  Utica,  and  was 
published  in  the  minutes  of  that  meeting.  Dr.  Wood's  object 
was  fully  attained  in  the  Cherokee  mission  ;  and  though,  in 
the  final  result  with  the  Choctaw  mission,  he  was  disappointed, 
his  visit  prepared  the  way  for  the  Board  to  retire  from  that 
field  in  1859. 

The  third  official  visit  of  Dr.  Anderson  to  the  foreign  field, 
was  to  the  missions  in  India,  in  the  years  1854,  5,  in  company 
with  the  Rev.  Augustus  C.  Thompson,  a  member  of  the  Pru- 
dential Committee.  These  brethren  sailed  from  Boston  in 
August,  1854.  The  time  of  departure,  and  the  times  for  vis- 
iting the  several  missions,  were  adjusted  to  the  varied  seasons 
as  they  occur  in  India,  with  the  expectation  of  reaching  home 
before  the  meeting  of  the  Board  in  1855.  They  arrived  at 
Bombay  in  November,  just  after  the  rains ;  visited  the  Deccan 
in  the  cool  of  winter ;  finished  their  work  in  the  Madura  mis- 
sion before  the  hot  season  ;  reached  Ceylon  when  the  dry  south- 
west monsoon  had  begun  to  send  its  healthful  breezes  across 
the  district  of  Jaffna ;  and  so  were  at  Madras  and  in  Arcot 
when  the  hot  season  was  nearly  over.  The  time  allotted  to 
this  tour  having  more  than  expired,  Mr.  Thompson's  pastoral 
duties  called  him  home ;  and  the  visit  to  Calcutta,  the  politi- 
cal, intellectual,  and  religious  center  of  India,  which  then 
seemed  important  and  useful  in  various  respects,  \«as  per- 
formed by  the  senior  member  of  the  deputation  alone.  This 
was  in  midsummer,  which  is  the  rainy  season  in  Bengal ;  and 
the  visit,  after  so  long  a  course  of  severe  labor,  was  not  with- 
out risk  of  health  and  life.  On  his  way  home,  the  Secretary 
46 


362  THE   MISSIONS. 

visited  the  Syria  mission,  and  Kessab,  Antioch,  Aleppo,  Ain- 
tab,  and  Constantinople.  More  than  seven  months  were  spent 
among  the  India  missions,  near  a  month  at  Calcutta,  and  two 
months  in  the  Syria  and  Armenian  missions. 

On  reaching  a  mission,  the  first  business  of  the  deputation 
was  to  visit  the  several  stations,  that  they  might  gain  an  accu- 
rate acquaintance  with  them  by  a  free,  personal  intercourse 
with  the  brethren.  The  object  of  this  visit  was  not  to  dis- 
cuss questions  of  missionary  policy,  but  to  perfect^ their  knowl- 
edge of  facts,  and  to  ascertain  the  individual  impressions  of  the 
missionaries  as  to  the  proper  method  of  dealing  with  the  facts. 
In  this,  which  was  the  most  toilsome  part  of  their  duty,  they 
were  generally  successful ;  and  this  was  an  essential  prepara- 
tion for  the  protracted  meetings  of  the  missions  which  followed. 
The  number  of  stations  thus  visited  was  thirty-seven.  There 
were  formal  conferences  with  the  Mahratta,  Madura,  Ceylon, 
Madras,  Arcot,  and  Syria  missions,  and  with  such  members  of 
the  Armenian  mission  as  could  assemble  at  Aintab  and  Con- 
stantinople. The  aggregate  number  of  missionary  brethren 
present  at  these  meetings  was  fifty-eight ;  the  number  of  ses- 
sions was  one  htmdred  and  six,  occupying  the  business  hours 
of  seventy-eight  days  ;  and  the  number  of  written  reports 
discussed  and  adopted  in  these  sessions  was  eighty-seven.  The 
reports  —  upon  the  basis  of  which  the  several  missions  have 
been  since  acting  successfully  —  were  drawn  up  after  the  dis- 
cussions, as  a  fair  embodiment  of  the  opinions  of  the  meeting, 
and  were  printed,  together  with  letters  from  the  deputation 
commenting  upon  them,  for  the  use  of  the  missions  and  of  the 
Prudential  Committee.* 

*  These  Reports  and  Letters,  bound  up  with  the  Report  of  the  Deputation 
to  the  Board,  and  that  of  the  Special  Committee  on  their  case,  make  a  consid- 
erable octavo  volume.  The  documents  written  in  India  were  printed  there ; 
and  the  hiode  of  proceeding  at  these  meetings  was  followed  by  several  Con- 
ferences of  Missionaries  in  other  parts  of  India;  as,  also, "by  a  Conference  on 
Missions  held  in  Liverpool  in  the  year  1860.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Mullens, 
D.  D.,  one  of  the  London  Society's  missionaries  in  Calcutta,  to  whom  mis- 
sions in  India  and  all  missionary  bodies  are  under  great  obligation,  was  one 
of  the  secretaries  of  the  last-named  Conference.  It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to 


DEPUTATIONS.  363 

The  missions  of  the  Board  in  India  being  chiefly  in  rural 
districts,  the  main  drift  of  the  discussions,  and  of  the  reports, 
was  in  favor  of  carrying  the  gospel  into  the  villages  in  such  a 
way,  that  gospel  institutions  might  speedily  take  root  in  them. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  in  Utica,  in  September,  1855, 
the  committee  on  that  part  of  the  Prudential  Committee's 
Report  relating  to  the  Tamil  missions,  stated  to  the  Board, 
that,  from  other  sources  than  the  Report,  they  had  derived 
information  of  changes  brought  about  by  the  deputation, 
which  involved  "the  abandonment  of  the  English  language, 
the  relinquishment  of  schools  for  the  heathen,  a  total  change 
in  the  ecclesiastical  constitution  of  the  [Ceylon]  mission,  and, 
in  a  word,  a  new  basis  of  missionary  effort ;  "  and  they  recom- 
mended the  appointment  of  a  special  committee  to  examine 
into  the  case.  The  Board  could  not  know  how  far  such  state- 
ments were  founded  in  misapprehension,  as  neither  member 
of  the  deputation  had  then  returned  to  the  country.  The 
report  was,  therefore,  after  a  discussion  of  some  length,  laid 
upon  the  table  ;  and  the  Prudential  Committee  was  requested 
to  call  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board,  whenever  the  matters 

quote  the  following  opinion  of  these  documents  from  Dr.  Mullens's  Historical 
Account  of  previous  Missionary  Conferences,  in  the  very  instructive  volume 
issued  by  the  Liverpool  Conference,  of  which  twenty-five  thousand  copies  were 
circulated  the  first  year.  "They  are  contained,"  he  says,  "  in  a  volume  of  six 
hundred  pages,  printed  privately  for  the  use  of  the  Board  and  its  friends ;  and 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  no  volume  of  equal  size,  published  during  the 
era  of  our  modern  missions,  contains  so  much  valuable  information  on  all  the 
details  of  missionary  experience,  on  several  most  important  fields  of  labor,  as 
that  volume  of  missionary  papers.  It  might  be  published  with  great  advantage 
to  the  friends  of  all  missionary  societies ;  and  deserves  the  careful  study  of  all 
missionaries,  and  the  managers  of  all  missionary  agencies,  especially  in  the 
countries  and  provinces  of  Asia."  Referring  to  similar  documents  issued  by 
Conferences  of  English  Baptist  Missionaries  in  India,  and  E.  B.  Underbill, 
Esq.,  Secretary  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  then  in  India  as  a  depu- 
tation, Dr.  Mullens  says,  "  A  range  of  topics  was  discussed  similar  to  that 
of  the  American  brethren ;  and  the  result,  as  in  their  case,  was  embodied  in 
reports  by  the  missionaries,  and  letters  by  the  deputation.  They  are  also 
equally  valuable.  To  the  missionary  in  India,  no  works  will  give  a  more  com- 
plete insight  into  the  worth  and  working  of  all  sorts  of  plans,  than  the  nine  sets 
of  Papers  and  Letters  contained  in  these  volumes  of  the  two  Societies." 


364  THE   MISSIONS. 

connected  with  the  visit  of  the  deputation  to  India  should  be 
ready  for  its  consideration.  Mr.  Thompson  arrived  home  in 
the  following  month,  and  Dr.  Anderson  in  January.  A  spe- 
cial meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  in  Albany,  in  March,  1856, 
as  related  in  a  previous  chapter,  to  which  the  deputation  pre- 
sented a  printed  report  in  a  pamphlet  of  about  sixty  pages, 
the  leading  object  of  which  is  thus  described  in  the  conclu- 
sion :  — 

A  main  object  of  this  report,  fathers  and  brethren,  has 
been  briefly  to  describe  the  more  important  adaptations  of 
means,  by  our  respected  brethren  in  India,  to  the  progressive 
demands  of  the  work  in  the  three  older  missions.  You  have 
seen  the  Ahmednuggur,  Madura,  and  Ceylon  missions  succes- 
sively in  that  more  advanced  stage  of  progress,  when  they 
were  enabled  to  form  centers  of  operation  distinct  from  the 
stations,  with  that  best  of  all  spiritual  germs  —  the  church. 
Such  churches  you  have  seen  organized,  for  the  first  time,  in 
each  of  those  missions,  and  furnished,  also  for  the  first  time, 
with  native  pastors.  As  an  important  means  to  the  same  end, 
you  have  seen  the  way  opened  for  commencing  village  stations 
in  the  Deccan  of  Western  India,  with  resident  missionaries,  re- 
mote from  the  cities ;  thus  providing  for  successive  constellations 
of  light  and  influence  in  that  most  interesting  region.  Next 
you  have  seen  the  schools  subjected  to  modifications,  to  adapt 
them  to  this  new  position  of  the  work.  Men  may  be  converted 
by  preaching,  without  schools  ;  but  how,  without  them,  can  we 
build  up  and  perpetuate  churches  and  congregations  ?  You 
have  seen  that  one  of  the  main  inquiries  in  the  Madura  mis- 
sion was,  how  to  strengthen  the  large  system  of  vernacular 
schools  connected  with  the  village  congregations.  It  was  to 
invigorate  them,  and  through  them  the  congregations,  and 
thus  to  lead  on  to  the  gathering  of  village  churches,  that  the 
boarding  schools  at  four  of  the  stations  in  that  mission  were 
to  be  progressively  relinquished,  and  that  more  variety  was  to 
be  imparted  to  the  studies  of  the  Seminary  at  Pasumalie.  So 
in  Ceylon,  where  the  work  of  preparation  had  been  elaborately 


DEPUTATIONS.  365 

performed,  and  had  been  much  longer  in  progress,  where 
were  scores  of  native  Christians  ready  to  be  formed  into 
village  churches,  and  educated  natives  for  pastors,  the  Board 
has  seen  that  the  time  had  fully  come  for  entering  at  once 
and  earnestly  into  the  only  method  of  planting  gospel  institu- 
tions effectually  in  all  parts  of  the  Jaffna  district.  Going, 
then,  as  the  mission  did,  for  the  establishment  of  village 
churches,  it  perceived  the  need  of  having  Christian  schools,  to 
be  under  the  especial  care  of  those  churches,  and  to  look 
mainly  to  them  for  support.  Without  such,  the  churches 
could  not  live  and  grow.  The  Board  will  remember,  that 
twenty  Christian  schools  were  instituted  in  Jaffna ;  while  the 
heathen  were  not  overlooked,  an  equal  number  having  been 
provided  for  their  children,  besides  the  privilege  of  attending 
the  Christian  schools.  Nor  will  it  be  forgotten  that,  among 
the  reasons  for  discontinuing  the  English  station  schools,  was 
their  evident  incompatibility  with  the  success  of  the  vernacular 
village  schools.  And  it  must  have  been  seen,  that  the  Batti- 
cotta  Seminary  could  not  meet  the  high  spiritual  demands 
upon  it,  in  this  new  order  of  things,  without  some  such  thor- 
ough reconstruction  as  it  received  from  the  mission,  even  at 
the  expense  of  a  temporary  suspension  of  its  functions  in 
order  more  effectually  to  secure  that  result ;  and  also,  that  the 
Female  Boarding  School  at  Oodooville  must  needs  be  adapted 
in  form  and  character  to  its  correlative  institution.  Sim- 
plicity, order,  economy,  spirituality,  are  essential  to  the  high 
prosperity  of  these  and  all  other  missions ;  and  to  the  attain- 
ment of  each  of  these  great  excellences  the  missions  aimed  in 
their  late  discussions,  and  not  without  success. 

After  a  protracted  discussion, — in  which  the  deputation  took 
little  part,  preferring  to  have  the  matter  go  to  a  committee, 
which  should  take  time  for  correspondence  with  the  mission- 
aries, —  a  committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of '  thirteen 
members,  to  whom  the  whole  case  was  referred  ;  and  they 
were  to  report  at  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the  Board. 
This  committee  was  composed  of  the  following  persons: 


366  THE  MISSIONS. 

Nathan  S.  S.  Beman,  D.  D.,  Mark  Hopkins,  D.  D.,  Leonard 
Bacon,  D.  D.,  David  H.  Riddle,  D.  D.,  Hon.  Erastus  Fairbanks, 
Hon.  Linus  Child,  Benjamin  C.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  Horace  Holden, 
Esq.,  Asa  D.  Smith,  D.  D.,  Hon.  William  Jessup,  Richard  T. 
Haines,  Esq.,  Ray  Palmer,  D.  D.,  and  Philemon  H.  Fowler, 
D.  D.  In  accordance  not  less  with  the  wishes  of  the  deputa- 
tion than  with  the  evident  proprieties  of  the  case,  the  Special 
Committee  addressed  a  series  of  questions  to  each  member  of 
the  missions  that  had  been  visited  ;  and  the  same  was  also 
sent  to  the  returned  missionaries  in  this  country,  several  of 
whom  came  before  the  committee.  The  annual  meeting  was 
delayed  until  the  28th  of  October,  that  the  Special  Committee 
might  receive  answers  from  all  the  missionaries  before  making 
up  their  report.  This  report,  as  printed,  makes  a  pamphlet 
of  fifty-nine  pages.  The  following  is  their  result,  as  regards 
the  proceedings  and  influence  of  the  deputation  :  — 

"  In  regard  to  the  late  visit  of  the  Deputation  to  the  Eastern 
Missions,  the  Special  Committee  believe  they  have  performed  a 
great  and  needful  work  ;  that  they  have  discharged  their  high 
trust  as  faithful,  devoted  men  ;  that  they  ought  to  receive  the 
cordial  thanks  of  this  Board  ;  and  that  we  may  confidently 
hope,  that  a  new  spirit  may  pervade  and  animate  our  missions 
abroad,  and  a  strong  missionary  impulse  be  given  to  our 
churches  by  this  labor  of  love.  It  is  true,  some  diversity  of 
opinion  exists  in  relation  to  missionary  policy  ;  but  it  is  not  a 
diversity  which  respects  the  kind  of  agencies  to  be  employed 
in  order  to  save  the  soul  and  evangelize  the  world,  but  such 
as  respects  the  specific  forms  and  relative  proportions  in  which 
these  agencies  are  to  be  used.  And  in  looking  over  the  whole 
missionary  field,  there  is  great  unanimity  even  on  this  latter 
point." 

The  report  has  the  names  of  all  the  committee  appended, 
and  was  accepted  by  the  Board  at  Newark,  with  no  debate 
on  any  "part  relating  to  the  proceedings  of  the  deputation. 
It  was,  also, 

"Resolved,  That  the  Deputation  to  the  Eastern  Missions  have 
performed  a  great  and  needful  work ;  that  they  have  discharged 


DEPUTATIONS.  367 

their  high  trust  as  faithful,  devoted  men  ;  that  they  receive 
the  cordial  thanks  of  the  Board  ;  and  that  we  may  confidently 
hope,  that  a  new  spirit  may  pervade  and  animate  our  missions 
abroad,  and  a  strong  missionary  impulse  be  given  to  our 
churches  by  this  labor  of  love." 

On  the  2d  of  December  following,  the  Chairman  of  the 
Prudential  Committee,  by  direction  of  the  Committee,  reported 
the  following  Minute,  which  was  unanimously  adopted,  viz.: — 

In  view  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Board  at  Utica,  the  Pru- 
dential Committee  deemed  it  inexpedient  to  take  any  action  on 
the  doings  of  the  deputation  to  India,  or  of  the  missions  during 
their  visit,  until  after  the  subject  should  have  been  acted  upon 
by  the  Board,  at  their  special  meeting  to  be  called  for  that 
purpose.  After  the  appointment  of  the  Special  Committee  by 
the  Board  at  Albany,  though  the  Prudential  Committee  early 
took  occasion  to  satisfy  their  own  minds  as  to  the  general  cor- 
rectness of  those  proceedings,  and  had  an  informal  interchange 
of  opinions  on  the  subject,  they  abstained  from  all  formal 
action  upon  the  same  ;  waiting  the  final  action  of  the  Board 
on  the  report  of  the  Special  Committee.  But  now  that  the 
Special  Committee  have  made  their  report,  and  that  the  Board 
has  passed  upon  it,  sustaining  the  deputation  and  the  missions, 
there  is  no  reason  wrhy  the  Prudential  Committee  should 
longer  abstain  from  the  action,  which,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, it  would  havo  been  their  duty  to  take,  in  the  first 
instance,  on  the  doings  of  the  deputation  and  the  missions. 
Now,  therefore,  in  order  to  give  a  proper  effect  and  influence 
to  the  reports  which  were  adopted  by  the  several  missions  in 
India  and  Turkey,  during  the  visit  of  the  deputation,  it  is 

Resolved,  1.  That,  in  the  several  instances  where  the  depu- 
tation gave  a  formal  sanction  to  the  proceedings  of  the  missions 
embodied  in  these  reports,  the  Prudential  Committee  confirm 
their  action. 

2.  That  the  Secretaries  be  instructed  to  report  hereafter,  as 
they  shall  find  it  convenient,  the  cases,  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  India  missions,  which  were  reserved  by  the  deputation  for 


368  THE  MISSIONS. 

the  consideration  of   the  Prudential  Committee   after  their 
return  home. 

3.  That  the  Prudential  Committee  approve  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Syria  mission,  embodied  in  the  reports  adopted 
during  the  visit  of  Dr.  Anderson  in  the  autumn  of  1855. 

4.  That  the  reports  adopted  by  a  meeting  at  Constantinople 
of  such  missionaries  as  could  conveniently  assemble  there  dur- 
ing Dr.  Anderson's  visit,  though  not  viewed  as  the  action  of 
the  Armenian  mission,  and  of  course  not  binding  on  the  mis- 
sion, are  regarded  by  the  Prudential  Committee  as  of  much 
value,  and  are  in  general  accordance  with  the  views  entertained 
by  the  Committee  on  the  subjects  discussed  in  the  reports. 

These  occurrences  resulted  in  much  good.  Attention  was 
awakened  to  a  subject  but  little  understood,  namely,  the  true 
policy  of  foreign  missions.  The  Board,  and  still  more  the 
Special  Committee,  added  largely  to  their  stock  of  valuable 
information  in  respect  to  the  working  of  missions,  and  to  the 
principles  underlying  the  whole  enterprise.  And  by  means 
of  the  religious  newspapers,  which  were  discussing  the  matter 
for  a  whole  year,  and  by  the  report  of  the  Special  Committee, 
of  which  a  large  number  of  copies  were  circulated,  a  great 
amount  of  practical  knowledge  was  widely  diffused  through 
the  Christian  community. 


CHAPTER   X. 

LITERATURE   OF  THE  BOARD  AND  OF  ITS  MISSIONS. 

Missionary  Literature  a  Necessity.  —  AT  HOME.  Sermons.  —  Periodicals.  —  Reports. — 
Missionary  Tracts.  —  ABROAD.  School  Books.  —  Versions  of  the  Scriptures.  —  Helps 
for  understanding- the  Scriptures  and  their  Application.  —  RESULTANT  LITERATURE. 
Biographies.  —  Exploring  Tours.  —  Works  Historical,  Descriptive,  and  on  the  Results 
of  Missionary  Experience. 

A  RELIGION  must  have  a  literature.  Dealing  with  the  deep- 
est problems  of  philosophy,  —  existence,  its  ground  and  laws ; 
good  and  evil,  their  nature,  tendencies  and  results ;  with  the 
principles,  rules  and  motives  which  should  govern  all  human 
action  of  body  or  of  mind,  —  it  must,  in  order  to  be  a  religion, 
have  certain  ideas,  and  must  have  forms  of  expression,  more 
or  less  settled  and  uniform,  for  conveying  them  from  one  mind 
to  another.  The  character  of  a  religion  must  depend  on  the 
character  of  those  ideas ;  and  the  best  expression  of  them  is 
indispensable  to  its  most  successful  propagation. 

The  American  Board,  laboring  to  procure  the  intelligent, 
hearty  and  practical  reception  of  truth  on  these  great  subjects 
by  heathen  minds,  and  calling  the  friends  of  truth  and  of 
human  welfare  to  its  aid,  must  of  necessity  produce  a  various 
and  valuable  literature  in  many  languages.  It  must  furnish 
to  vast  multitudes  of  intelligent  Christians,  the  means  of  un- 
derstanding and  appreciating  its  labors ;  it  must  furnish  to 
those  for  whose  good  it  labors,  the  means  of  understanding 
and  appreciating  the  truths  to  be  taught ;  and,  in  prosecut- 
ing these  labors,  it  could  not  fail  incidentally  to  cause  the 
development  of  many  thoughts  and  the  collection  of  much 
information  which  the  civilized  world  would  desire  to  pos- 
sess. 

47  (369) 


370  THE  MISSIONS. 

HOME  LITERATURE. 

In  commending  its  labors  to  those  whose  aid  it  might  ex- 
pect, the  Board  has  resorted,  from  the  first  and  extensively, 
to  the  literature  of  the  pulpit.  Forty-seven  sermons  before 
the  Board  at  its  annual  meetings,  twenty-six  before  aux- 
iliary societies,  ten  at  ordinations  of  missionaries,  twelve 
funeral  sermons,  and  eleven  others  on  various  subjects  con- 
nected with  the  work,  have  been  printed  by  the  Board  and 
others,  and  are  in  the  library  of  the  Board.  Most  of  these 
are  by  men  selected  for  their  eminent  fitness  for  the  work. 
They  present  the  work  of  missions,  or  parts  of  it,  in  more 
than  a  hundred  different  aspects — setting  forth  the  scriptu- 
ral authority  for  this  form  of  Christian  effort ;  the  scriptural 
encouragement  for  engaging  in  it;  the  wretchedness  of  the 
heathen  for  the  want  of  it ;  the  spirit  and  modes  in  which  it 
should  be  prosecuted ;  the  traits  of  character  developed  in  its 
prosecution ;  the  indications  of  God's  favor  attending  it ;  the 
value  of  results  already  secured ;  the  certainty  of  its  ultimate 
triumph ;  and  numerous  other  topics,  which  sanctified  genius 
has  been  able  to  seize  upon  and  illustrate.  They  exhibit 
more  than  a  hundred  different  styles  of  thought  and  of  elo- 
quence, and,  in  almost  every  case,  of  a  high  order,  as  may  be 
seen  by  a  single  glance  at  the  names  of  the  preachers.  Taken 
together,  they  form  almost  a  complete  encyclopedia  of  argu- 
ment on  subduing  the  world  to  Christian  civilization  and  to 
its  glorious  Author. 

Next  to  these  discussions  of  principles,  based  on  divine  rev- 
elation, and  of  binding  force  prior  to  any  teaching  of  experi- 
ence, comes  the  record  of  facts,  proving  that  the  divine  will  is 
understood  and  successfully  obeyed.  These  facts  are  spread 
out,  mainly,  in  several  periodicals. 

The  oldest  and  most  important  of  these  is  the  Missionary 
Herald,  commenced  in  January,  1818,  in  connection  with  the 
Panoplist,  and  published  by  itself  since  January,  1819,  in  a 
monthly  pamphlet  of  thirty-two  pages,  making,  in  its  separate 


HOME   LITERATURE.  371 

form,  thirty-nine  octavo  volumes  of  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
four  pages.  Its  leading  contents  are,  selections  and  compila- 
tions from  the  correspondence  of  missionaries ;  in  other  words, 
the  accounts  given  by  some  hundreds  of  educated  men,  during 
about  forty  years,  of  their  travels,  labors,  and  observations  in 
many  countries,  from  Eastern  Canada  to  Oregon ;  in  North- 
ern, Western,  Southern  and  Eastern  Africa;  from  Paris  and 
Malta  to  the  Caspian  Sea  and  Ispahan  ;  in  India,  the  Malayan 
Archipelago,  China,  and  the  Islands  of  the  Pacific ;  describing 
countries  and  climates,  routes,  means  and  modes  of  travel  and 
transportation ;  tribes,  races  and  nations ;  their  characteris- 
tics, physical,  mental  and  moral ;  their  social  condition  and 
habits ;  their  institutions  of  religion,  education  and  govern- 
ment; their  industrial  pursuits,  and  the  means  of  subsisting 
and  preserving  health  among  them.  These  and  many  other 
like  things  must  be  observed  and  described,  not  fully,  but  so 
far  as  they  afford  facilities  or  oppose  obstacles  to  the  great 
work,  or  modify  the  manner  of  its  prosecution. 

But  all  this  is  merely  preliminary  to  the  history  of  the  work 
itself —  the  history  of  Christian  civilization,  its  beginning  and 
progress,  in  many  nations,  of  a  great  diversity  of  character, 
and  in  a  great  variety  of  circumstances ;  not  compiled  by  the- 
orists, a  thousand  years  afterward,  from  fragmentary  notices 
that  accident  has  preserved  and  time  has  spared,  but  carefully 
and  minutely  recorded  at  the  time,  by  the  very  men  who  com- 
menced and  guided  the  upward  movement.  The  details  show 
by  what  efforts  men  of  diverse  characters  and  genius  suc- 
ceeded or  failed  in  first  gaining  the  confidence  of  communities 
as  diverse  as  themselves ;  in  awakening  the  desire  for  improve- 
ment, and  securing  interested  attention  to  new  ideas  of  human 
life  and  destiny ;  the  multifarious  workings  of  mind  when 
imbruted  by  heathenism,  and  when  misled  by  corrupt  Chris- 
tianity, both  in  seeking  and  in  resisting  Christian  truth  ;  the 
action  of  hierarchies  and  governments,  half  civilized  and  un- 
civilized, when  disturbed  by  the  advance  of  light  into  their 
dominions  ;  how  schools,  where  schools  were  wanting  or  worth- 
less, have  been  started,  conducted,  modified  according  to  cir- 


372  THE  MISSIONS. 

cumstances,  multiplied,  made  to  grow  into  systems  of  popular 
education,  leading  on  to  the  establishment  of  higher  institu- 
tions, literary,  scientific  and  professional ;  the  Christian  expe- 
rience of  individual  converts,  showing  the  inward  struggles 
through  which  a  multitude  of  minds,  of  various  character  and 
condition,  have  attained  to  the  intelligent  and  cordial  recep- 
tion of  Christian  truth,  and  the  resulting  transformations  of 
character ;  the  planting  and  training  of  churches,  in  forms 
varying  as  the  exigencies  of  each  required,  and  their  various 
degrees  of  success ;  the  influence  of  advancing  Christian  light 
and  morality  on  the  action  of  governments,  even  to  the  extent 
of  their  peaceful  reconstruction  in  better  forms  and  on  better 
principles ;  the  transformation  of  society  by  the  gradual  adop- 
tion of  the  industry,  the  commerce,  the  arts,  the  comforts  and 
the  decencies  of  civilized  Christian  life.  The  men  and  women 
by  whose  labors  all  these  things  have  been  done,  have  described 
them  from  day  to  day  as  they  occurred,  that  the  Christian 
world  might  understand,  appreciate  and  sustain  their  labors, 
and  that  minds  competent  to  the  task  might  suggest  every 
possible  improvement  in  the  modes  of  conducting  them.  These 
accounts,  either  in  the  words  of  their  authors,  or  carefully  and 
skillfully  condensed,  fill  the  greater  part  of  these  thirty-nine 
octavo  volumes ;  forming  a  library  which  has  been  and  is  stud- 
ied with  intense  interest,  not  only  by  the  prince  of  geogra- 
phers, and  other  literary  and  scientific  men,  but  by  statesmen 
of  the  highest  order  of  intellect,  who  have  no  sympathy  with 
its  religious  spirit. 

Parts  of  the  same  information,  and  other  similar  matter, 
but  adapted  to  the  use  of  those  who  have  little  leisure  for 
reading,  and  of  youth,  have  filled  the  volumes  of  the  Day 
Spring  and  the  Journal  of  Missions  since  January,  1842. 

Annually,  the  Secretaries  of  the  Board,  under  the  direction 
of  its  Prudential  Committee,  prepare  a  careful  summary  of  all 
the  doings  of  the  Board,  foreign  and  domestic,  of  the  labors 
of  its  missionaries  and  their  results,  and  of  the  progress  and 
condition  of  their  work.  This  is  laid  before  the  Board  at  its 


FOREIGN  LITERATURE.  373 

annual  meeting.  The  several  parts  are  referred  to  appropri- 
ate committees,  and  after  a  rigid  scrutiny  by  them,  and,  if 
need  be,  discussion  and  amendment  by  the  Board  itself,  the 
whole  is  adopted  and  published  as  the  Annual  Report  of  the 
Board.  The  fifty  Annual  Reports,  of  perhaps  two  hundred 
octavo  pages  each  on  an  average,  contain  therefore,  in  the  form 
of  annals,  a  carefully-prepared  history  of  the  operations  of  the 
Board  and  its  missions,  and  of  their  results. 

Copious  as  have  been  these  regular  periodical  issues,  they 
have  been  found  insufficient  to  meet  all  exigencies.  New 
questions,  new  situations  of  affairs,  new  subjects  for  discussion 
and  appeal,  spring  up  unexpectedly,  or  present  themselves  to 
the  industrious  observer  of  the  missionary  work,  and  demand 
attention.  To  meet  these  demands,  missionary  tracts  have 
been  issued  from  time  to  time,  during  the  whole  history  of  the 
Board,  till  the  number  of  copies  amounts  to  one  million  five 
hundred  and  eighty-two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy. 

Such  is  the  home  literature  of  the  Board,  preliminary,  pre- 
paratory, and  subservient  to  its  foreign  labors. 

FOREIGN  LITERATURE. 

The  foreign  work  of  the  Board  consists,  in  a  great  measure, 
of  the  creation  of  a  literature,  or  rather  of  many  literatures, 
for  the  use  and  benefit  of  many  peoples  and  tongues  and  na- 
tions, each  adapted  to  the  peculiar  character  and  wants  of 
those  for  whom  it  is  designed. 

Next  to  the  oral  proclamation  of  the  gospel,  the  great  work 
of  a  mission  is,  to  enable  and  induce  a  people  to  read  and 
understand,  that  they  may  believe  and  obey,  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures. In  order  to  this,  the  people  must  have  those  Scrip- 
tures in  their  own  language,  and  must  be  able  to  read ;  and 
in  order  to  any  thing  more  than  very  imperfect  success,  they 
must  be  furnished  with  the  literary  helps  and  mental  cultiva- 
tion necessary  to  an  intelligent  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
application  of  their  doctrines  to  the  conduct  of  their  lives. 


374  THE   MISSIONS. 

The  literature  created  by  a  mission,  then,  must  include  pro- 
visions for  elementary  education,  the  Scriptures  in  the  ver- 
nacular, and  helps  in  understanding  and  applying  them. 

4  First  in  the  order  of  time,  after  oral  preaching,  is  providing 
the  means  of  elementary  education,  and  this,  often,  in  lan- 
guages that  have  no  alphabet.  In  such  case,  the  words  of  the 
language  must  first  be  learned  by  conversation  with  those  who 
speak  it.  The  words  must  then  be  analyzed  into  the  simple 
sounds  of  which  they  are  composed,  and  then  a  character  must 
be  selected  or  invented  to  represent  each  of  those  simple 
sounds.  As  almost  every  language  has  some  sounds  peculiar 
to  itself,  and  as  every  person  has  peculiarities  of  utterance, 
and  as  an  unlettered  people  has  no  recognized  standard  of  cor- 
rect pronunciation,  the  formation  or  adaptation  of  an  alpha- 
bet is  sometimes  a  very  laborious  task.  It  has,  however,  been 
done  in  four  African  languages,  the  Grebo,  Mpongwe,  Dikele, 
and  Zulu-Kaffir ;  in  thirteen  American,  the  Cherokee,  Choctaw, 
Creek,  Osage,  Pawnee,  Dakota,  Ojibwa,  Ottawa,  Seneca,  Aber- 
naquis,  and  three  in  Oregon  ;  in  the  Hawaiian,  Marquesas,  and 
one  or  two  of  the  Micronesian  languages ;  and  in  the  Modern 
Nestorian  and  Dyak  in  Asia. 

In  all  these  languages,  of  course,  the  books  necessary  to 
teach  the  art  of  reading  must  be  prepared  and  published. 
And  in  several  other  languages,  having  alphabets,  some  of  them 
ancient,  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  prepare  or  adopt,  — 
commonly  to  prepare,  —  and  to  publish,  books  for  instruction  in 
spelling  and  reading ;  for  example,  the  Seneca,  in  America ; 
the  Grebo,  in  Africa ;  the  Modern  Armenian,  Armeno-Turkish, 
Hebrew-Spanish  and  Modern  Greek,  in  Europe ;  the  Arabic, 
Mahratta,  Tamil,  Siamese  and  Chinese,  in  Asia ;  making,  with 
the  former,  some  thirty  or  forty  languages,  in  which  it  was 
necessary  to  furnish  children  and  youth  with  proper  means  of 
learning  to  read.  Where  some  of  these  languages  were  spoken, 
there  were  indeed  schools,  as  in  Greece,  in  which  children  were 
taught  to  read  the  words  of  the  ancient  language,  without 
understanding  it ;  but  for  years,  primary  schools  in  Modern 


FOREIGN  LITERATURE.  375 

Greek  depended  on  the  "  Alphabeterion,"  a  primary  school 
book  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  pages,  of  which  the  press 
at  Malta  and  at  Smyrna  had  furnished  forty-two  thousand 
copies  before  183T.  It  has  also  been  found  necessary  to  the 
best  progress  of  the  work  to  publish  grammars  of  the  Modern 
Greek,  Armenian,  Arabic,  Ancient  and  Modern  Syriac,  He- 
brew, Tamil,  Hawaiian,  Dakota,  Grebo,  Mpongwe,  and  Zulu, 
and  dictionaries,  more  or  less  complete,  of  the  Armenian,  He- 
brew, Tamil,  Chinese,  Hawaiian,  Grebo,  Mpongwe,  Zulu,  and 
Dakota.  A  dictionary  of  the  Modern  Syriac,  of  about  ten 
thousand  words,  has  been  prepared,  but  is  not  yet  published. 
In  nine  of  these  languages,  schools  have  been  furnished  with 
works  on  arithmetic ;  in  three,  on  algebra ;  in  three,  on  astron- 
omy ;  in  ten,  on  geography ;  and  in  six,  on  history ;  and  others, 
doubtless,  have  escaped  notice  in  this  brief  enumeration.  In 
the  higher  studies,  in  some  countries,  much  use  has  been  made 
of  books  in  the  English  language,  some  of  which  it  has  been 
necessary  to  prepare  and  publish. 

This  immense  contribution  to  the  school  literature  of  the 
world  has  cost  a  great  amount  of  labor ;  but  it  has  been  found 
indispensable  to  the  raising  up  of  intelligent  Christian  popu- 
lations, capable  of  maintaining  themselves  permanently  at  the 
elevation  to  which  missionary  labors  had  raised  them.  The 
aid  thus  rendered  to  the  sciences  of  comparative  philology  and 
ethnography,  though  merely  one  of  the  incidental  results  of 
these  labors,  has  a  value  which  only  scholars  in  those  depart- 
ments can  fully  appreciate. 

But  all  this  is  merely  preparatory  to  the-  reading  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  that  they  may  be  understood,  believed,  and 
obeyed.  That  it  may  be  of  any  religious  use,  these  nations 
must  be  furnished  with  the  Scriptures,  each  in  its  own  spoken 
language.  In  some  of  these  languages,  as  the  Modern  Greek, 
the  Arabic,  the  Chinese,  and  some  of  the  languages  of  India, 
versions  already  existed,  of  such  character  that  they  might  be 
usefully  circulated,  but  still  needing  careful  revision.  In 
others,  new  translations  were  indispensable. 


376  THE  MISSIONS. 

In  this  latter  class  may  be  placed  all  those  languages  in 
which  the  creation  of  an  alphabet  was  necessary,  la  ^ome  of 
these,  the  Scriptures  have  been  published  entire.  In  others, 
portions  have  been  published,  sufficient  to  guide  the  honest 
inquirer  into  the  way  of  eternal  life. 

Of  new  translations  into  languages  already  having  alpha- 
bets and  versions  of  the  Scriptures,  perhaps  the  most  impor- 
tant is  the  Arabic.  As  the  Arabic  is  the  language  of  the  Koran, 
and  therefore  the  sacred  language  of  the  whole  Mohammedan 
world,  it  seemed  a  duty  to  furnish  the  millions  who  read 
that  language  with  the  Scriptures  in  a  form  that  would 
command  their  respect,  for  both  its  literary  and  its  mechanical 
execution.  There  had  been  for  centuries  two  Arabic  versions, 
both  esteemed  respectably  good,  and  they  had  long  been  in 
print ;  but  they  failed  to  commend  themselves  to  the  taste  of 
native  Arabic  scholars,  and  it  was  commonly  supposed  in 
Europe  and  America  that  the  Mohammedans  regarded  the 
•printing  of  sacred  books  as  a  profanation,  and  would  never 
allow  the  Koran  to  be  printed.  This  was  found,  on  more 
perfect  acquaintance  with  native  readers  of  Arabic,  to  be  a 
misapprehension.  Their  objection  to  printed  books  arose  from 
the  bad,  unscholarly  appearance  of  the  letters,  and  not  from, 
the  manner  in  which  they  were  produced.  With  great  labor 
and  patient  research,  numerous  specimens  of  approved  Arabic 
calligraphy  were  collected,  the  letters  in  the  best  of  them  were 
taken  as  models,  and  types  were  made,  and  books  were  printed, 
acceptable  to  the  critical  taste  of  literary  Arabs.  The  new 
type  was  not  only  used  by  the  mission  at  Beirut,  but  was 
immediately  adopted  by  the  most  respectable  publishers  in 
Europe.  By  this  achievement,  the  art  of  printing  was  first 
made  practically  available,  to  any  considerable  extent,  to  the 
nations  whose  native  or  sacred  language  is  the  Arabic. 

It  was  also  found  that  the  old  Arabic  versions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures were  far  from  being  satisfactory,  either  in  idiomatic 
elegance  of  style  or  accuracy  of  rendering,  and  that  a  new 
translation  was  indispensable.  This,  in  a  language  having 
such  an  extensive  and  cultivated  literature  as  the  Arabic,  was 


FOREIGN  LITERATURE.  377 

no  ordinary  task ;  but  it  must  be  accomplished.  Besides  the 
best  dictionaries,  grammars  and  other  philological  helps  known 
in  Europe,  others,  some  of  them  very  extensive,  the  work  of 
Arab  scholars,  still  in  manuscript,  were  collected.  Native  lin- 
guists, competent  and  cordially  interested  in  the  work,  were 
engaged  as  assistants.  After  years  of  intense  labor,  the  New 
Testament  has  been  translated,  printed,  and  put  in  circulation, 
and  the  publication  of  the  Old  Testament  is  far  advanced. 
This  gives  the  New  Testament  now,  and  will  give  the  whole 
Bible  soon,  in  a  suitable  and  acceptable  form,  to  all  who  read 
the  Arabic  language,  and  through  them  to  all  who  speak  it, 
and  in  an  important  sense  to  the  whole  Moslem  population, 
among  whom  the  language  of  the  Koran  is  sacred  and  under- 
stood by  their  literary  men  —  a  population  extending  from 
Morocco  and  Tirnbuctu  on  the  west,  beyond  Calcutta  on  the 
east,  and  numbering  at  least  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions. 

An  examination  of  the  proper  tables  will  show  to  what 
peoples,  and  nations,  and  languages,  in  various  regions  of  the 
earth,  the  Board  has  furnished  the  Holy  Scriptures,  what 
have  been  furnished  with  parts  of  them,  and  in  what  abun- 
dance each  has  been  supplied. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  a  work  very  similar  to  that  done  for 
the  readers  of  Arabic,  has  been  done  in  the  Modern  Syriac, 
spoken  by  the  Nestorians.  For  the  Armenians,  acceptable 
printing  could  be  done  at  an  Armeno-Catholic  convent  near 
Venice ;  but  the  convent  kept  the  type  for  its  own  exclusive 
use.  Type  equally  good,  from  the  foundery  of  the  Board  at 
Smyrna,  broke  up  that  monopoly,  and  naturalized  good  print- 
ing among  the  Armenians. 

The  helps  which  the  Board  has  furnished  for  understanding 
and  applying  the  Scriptures,  besides  what  it  has  furnished  in 
school  books,  are  mostly  such  books  and  tracts  as  are  used  in 
the  more  enlightened  parts  of  Protestant  Christendom,  to 
impart  doctrinal  knowledge  and  promote  practical  piety  and 
Christian  morality.  A  large  part  of  them  are  translations  of 
well-approved  English  works.  Others  are  English  works 
48 


3t8  THE  MISSIONS. 

translated  and  modified,  or  works  originally  written  to  meet 
some  peculiar  wants  of  the  people  for  whom  they  are  pub- 
lished. The  Pilgrim's  Progress  and  the  Saints'  Everlasting 
Rest  speak  the  language  of  universal  Christianity,  and  are 
appropriate  every  where.  Tracts  on  opium-smoking  are 
needed  in  China  and  Siam.  "Where  practical  and  devotional 
works  have  their  proper  effect,  the  mind  is  put  on  the  right 
road  to  the  understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  and  of  all  litera- 
ture and  science.  From  minds  thus  moved  flow  living  waters. 
David  Malo  writes  Hawaiian  Tracts.  Leang  Afa  utters,  in 
Chinese,  "  Good  Words,  to  admonish  the  Age."  Meshakah 
discusses  skepticism  in  Arabic,  in  a  style  worthy  to  be  printed 
and  circulated  in  Mount  Lebanon,  and  translated  and  pub- 
lished in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra. 

In  attempting  to  speak  particularly  of  the  extent  and  value 
of  this  department  of  the  literature  of  the  Board,  time  and 
space  would  fail.  They  must  be  estimated  from  a  considera- 
tion of  the  appropriate  tables. 

RESULTANT  LITERATURE. 

There  is,  also,  what  may  be  called  the  resultant  literature 
of  the  Board,  consisting  of  works  for  which  its  operations  have 
afforded  materials,  inducements  and  facilities.  Among  these, 
the  first  place  seems  due  to  Missionary  Biography. 

Memoirs  have  been  published  of  all  the  deceased  Secreta- 
ries of  the  Board  —  of  Worcester,  Evarts,  Cornelius  and  Arm- 
strong in  volumes,  and  of  Wisner  in  the  Herald.  The  first- 
and  second,  taken  together,  give,  perhaps,  the  most  complete 
account  any  where  to  be  found  of  the  religious  condition  and 
history  of  New  England  during  the  period  in  which  the  Board 
was  formed  —  of  the  influences  which  led  to  its  formation,  and 
of  the  struggles  by  which,  and  the  difficulties  through  which, 
it  grew  to  its  maturity.  Besides  Samuel  J.  Mills,  whose  close 
connection  with  the  origin  of  the  Board  renders  it  proper  to 
include  him,  and  besides  numerous  biographical  sketches  in 
the  Herald  and  Journal,  biographies  have  been  published, 


RESULTANT  LITERATURE.  379 

nearly  all  in  separate  volumes,  of  seventeen  male  and  eleven 
female  missionaries,  all  of  them  persons  of  good  education, 
and  several  of  them  of  superior  mental  power,  giving  accounts 
of  their  labors,  travels  and  observations  in  the  Islands  of  the 
Pacific,  in  China,  Siain,  the  Malayan  Archipelago,  India,  Per- 
sia, Eastern  and  Western  Turkey,  Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt  and 
Greece,  besides  what  they  did  and  witnessed  in  lands  more 
civilized  and  Christian. 

To  these  should  be  added  several  memoirs  of  children  of 
missionaries,  born  and  educated  on  missionary  ground,  and  of 
native  converts  —  among  the  most  important  of  which,  for  the 
knowledge  they  incidentally  afford  of  the  countries  and  peoples 
to  which  they  relate,  are  those  of  Catharine  Brown,  the  Cher- 
okee, of  Obookiah  and  "  Blind  Bartimeus,"  the  Sandwich 
Islanders,  and  of  Babajee,  the  converted  Brahmin. 

Of  the  many  exploring  tours  preparatory  to  the  establish- 
ment of  missions,  the  accounts,  for  the  most  part,  have  been 
published  only  in  the  Missionary  Herald ;  but  three  have 
resulted  in  the  publication  of  volumes  which  demand  particu- 
lar notice. 

In  1829,  Grecian  independence  having  just  been  achieved, 
the  Morea  and  Greek  Islands  were  explored  by  the  jtev.  Ru|as_ 
Anderson,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Board,  and  the  Rev.  Eli 
Smith,  one  of  its  missionaries.  Mr.  Anderson,  on  his  return, 
published  a  volume,  which  received  honorable  notice  from  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society  in  London  as  a  valuable  and  much 
needed  contribution  to  geographical  science. 

The  "  Researches  of  the  Rev.  Eli  Smith  and  Rev.  H.  G.  O. 
Dwight  in  Armenia,  including  a  Journey  through  Asia  Minor 
and  into  Georgia  and  Persia,  with  a  Visit  to  the  Nestorian  and 
Chaldean  Christians  of  Oroomiah  and  Salinas,"  was  published, 
in  two  volumes,  in  1833.  It  was  soon  reprinted  in  London, 
and  highly  commended  in  some  of  the  leading  English  re- 
views. 

Rev.  Samuel  Parker's  "  Exploring  Tour  beyond  the  Rocky 
Mountains,"  made,  under  the  direction  of  the  Board,  in  1835, 


380  THE  MISSIONS. 

1836  and  1837,  brought  to  light  no  field  for  a  great  and  suc- 
cessful mission ;  but  it  added  much  to  the  science  of  geogra- 
phy, and  is 'remarkable  as  having  first  made  known  a  practi- 
cable route  for  a  railroad  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific. 

Kindred  to  these  are  about  twenty  works  giving  general 
information  collected  by  their  authors  during  their  missionary 
labors.  Among  the  more  important  of  these  is  the  Rev.  Hiram 
Bingham's  "  Residence  of  Twenty-one  Years  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands,"  which  gives  "  the  civil,  religious  and  political  history 
of  those  Islands,"  in  six  hundred  and  sixteen  octavo  pages. 
The  Rev.  Justin  Perkins  has  given  an  account  of  his  "  Resi- 
dence of  Eight  Years  in  Persia,"  among  the  Nestorians  and 
Mohammedans,  in  five  hundred  and  twelve  octavo  pages. 
Both  of  these  include  particular  accounts  of  the  missions  with 
which  their  authors  were  connected.  The  Rev.  J.  L.  Wilson 
has  condensed  into  a  small  duodecimo  volume,  the  well-matured 
results  of  his  observations  and  inquiries  during  eighteen  years 
of  missionary  labor  in  Western  Africa.  Williams's  "  Middle 
Kingdom,"  in  twelve  hundred  and  four  pages,  is  probably  the 
best  account  ever  published  of  the  Chinese  Empire  as  it  had 
been  and  was  in  1848.  "  India,  Ancient  and  Modern,"  has 
been  described,  in  six  hundred  and  eighteen  octavo  pages,  by 
Rev.  D.  0.  Allen,  who  had  been  twenty-five  years  a  missionary. 
For  the  same  number  of  years  the  Rev.  W.  M.  Thompson  had 
been  a  missionary  in  Syria  and  Palestine  when  he  published, 
in  two  volumes,  —  eleven  hundred  and  seventy-one  pages,  — 
"  The  Land  and  the  Book ;  or,  Biblical  Illustrations,  drawn 
from  the  Manners  and  Customs,  the  Scenes  and  Scenery,  of 
the  Holy  Land." 

And  hero  it  is  not  improper  to  claim,  as  belonging,  in 
an  important  degree,  to  this  department  of  the  literature 
of  the  Board,  the  great  modern  authority  on  the  geography 
of  Palestine,  Robinson's  "  Biblical  Researches."  Without 
the  preparations  made  by  the  mission  at  Beirut,  and  espe- 
cially by  the  Rev.  Eli  Smith,  who  accompanied  Dr.  Robinson 
in  his  explorations,  such  a  work  would  have  been  impossible. 


RESULTANT  LITERATURE.  381 

To  a  great  extent,  the  present  Arabic  names  of  places  men- 
tioned in  the  Bible  are  the  old  Hebrew  names,  modified 
according  to  certain  rules  which  Mr.  Smith  perfectly  under- 
stood. With  the  assistance  of  well-informed  natives,  he  had 
prepared  a  complete  list  of  all  the  small  districts  into  which. 
Palestine  is  divided,  with  their  several  locations,  and  lists, 
nearly  perfect,  of  all  the  names  of  places  in  each  of  these  dis- 
tricts. By  means  of  these  lists,  every  day's  work  could  be 
planned  to  the  best  advantage,  as  the  travelers  knew  what 
they  could  search  for  with  any  hope  of  success,  and  very 
nearly  where  to  search  for  it.  Nor  was  it  a  slight  advantage, 
that  Mr.  Smith  was  perfectly  familiar  with  the  language,  char- 
acter, and  habits  of  the  people  among  whom  these  explorations 
were  to  be  made,  whose  aid  they  often  needed,  and  whose 
acquiescence  in  their  proceedings  was  always  necessary ;  and 
that  he  was  personally  known  and  esteemed  by  many  of  them, 
and  especially  by  those  whose  friendly  influence  was  most  im- 
portant. Dr.  Robinson,  in  his  published  "  Researches,"  has 
fully  acknowledged  the  value  of  this  assistance ;  but  it  re- 
quires a  better  understanding  of  the  circumstances  than  many 
readers  possess,  fully  to  appreciate  the  amount  of  his  acknowl- 
edgment. 

The  "  History  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions,  compiled  chiefly  from  published  and  unpub- 
lished Documents  of  the  Board,"*  was  published  in  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  octavo  pages  -in  1842,  and  brought  down 
the  history  of  the  Board  and  its  missions  to  the  previous  year. 

In  prosecuting  the  missionary  work  for  so  many  years,  in  so 
many  countries,  so  distant  and  diverse,  and  by  the  labors  of 
so  many  educated,  thinking  men,  a  great  amount  of  experi- 
ence must  be  accumulated ;  modes  of  operation,  the  best  that 
could  be  devised  at  first,  will  be  found  capable  of  improve- 
ment, or  the  progress  of  the  work  will  have  made  them  inap- 
propriate ;  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  best  mode  of 

*  By  the  writer  of  this  chapter. 


382  THE  MISSIONS. 

proceeding  will  .show  themselves,  and  there  must  be,  occasion- 
ally, reconsiderations  and  revisions  of  system  and  method,  in. 
the  light  of  all  that  experience.  So  it  has  been  in  respect  to 
several  missions  of  the  Board ;  especially  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  in  India.  The  results  of 
such  revisions,  when  published,  arc  of  special  value  to  Mis- 
sionaries and  the  conductors  of  missionary  societies.  Of  this 
class  of  publications,  the  Report  of  the  Deputation  to  the  Mis- 
sions in  India,  in  1856,  and  the  documents  connected  with  it, 
are  the  most  important  in  the  history  of  the  Board,  and  per- 
haps in  the  whole  history  of  modern  missions. 

A  glance  at  the  lists  of  publications,  in  the  appropriate 
tables,  will  show,  and  a  careful  examination  will  show  more 
clearly,  in  proportion  to  its  carefulness,  that  an  appreciative 
review  of  the  literature  of  the  Board  and  of  its  missions, 
doing  justice  to  each  of  the  numerous  works  which  it  com- 
prises, would  fill  volumes,  and  require  years  of  labor.  Noth- 
ing of  that  kind,  therefore,  has  been  attempted  here.  Perhaps, 
however,  this  brief  and  imperfect  classification  may  aid  the 
thoughtful  in  forming  some  estimate  of  its  extent,  its  variety, 
and  its  value. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  FIELD   AND  THE  WORK  AT  THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  HALF- 
:  .*  CENTURY. 

Fifty  Years  ago. —  The  Field  and  "Work  at  the  Present  Time.  —  Knowledge  of  the  World 
and  its  Inhabitants.  —  Political  Ascendency  of  Protestant  Christianity.  —  General  Ac- 
knowledgment of  Missions  as  a  Duty.  —  Extent  of  Missionary  Organizations. — Suc- 
cess of  Missions.  —  Islands  of  the  Pacific.  —  Africa.  —  West  Indies.  —  Eastern  Asia. — 
Madagascar.  —  Tahiti.  —  Sandwich  Islands.  —  Turkey.  —  Nestorians.  —  India.  —  Distri- 
bution of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  —  Estimated  Pecuniary  Value  of  the  Missionary  Enter- 
prise.—The  existing  Missions  will  fill  the  Earth  by  their  Growth.  —  The  Call  to  the 
People  of  God. 

"  SOME  effort  of  attention  is  necessary,"  says  Dr.  Leonard 
Bacon,  "  to  any  just  view  of  what  the  condition  of  the  world 
was,  and  what,  on  any  merely  human  calculation  of  probabil- 
ities, were  the  prospects  of  the  Christian  religion  in  this  world, 
fifty  years  ago.  The  great  wars,  which  had  begun  in  the  first 
French  revolution,  nearly  twenty  years  before,  were  still  agi- 
tating all  European  Christendom ;  and,  only  two  years  later, 
the  United  States  were  drawn  into  that  vortex.  Political  lib- 
erty was  almost  annihilated  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  the 
despotism  of  the  first  Napoleon  being  then  at  its  hight.  In 
France,  in  Switzerland,  in  every  country  on  that  continent, 
evangelical  religion  was,  to  human 'view,  almost  extinct;  no 
general  or  effective  reaction  having  taken  place  against  the 
tendencies  to  mere  formalism,  and  to  unbelief,  which  had  so 
widely  characterized  the  preceding  century.  Our  own  country 
had  hardly  begun  to  be  recognized  as  a  power  among  the 
nations ;  the  present  form  of  our  federal  government  had  been 
in  existence  only  twenty-one  years,  and  only  twenty-seven 
years  had  passed  since  the  close  of  our  revolutionary  war. 
Outside  of  Christendom  there  was  no  recognized  preparation,, 
and  hardly  a  visible  opening,  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel. 

(383) 


384  THE  MISSIONS. 

The  great  Mohammedan  empire  of  Turkey  had  only  ceased  to 
be  terrible  to  Christian  nations  ;  it  had  not  begun  to  fall,  or  to 
be  dismembered  ;  nor  had  any  change  taken  place,  either  in 
the  spirit  and  policy  of  its  rulers,  or  in  the  character  of  its 
people.  The  East  Indian  empire,  which  a  corporation  of 
British  traders  had  established,  with  its  center  at  Calcutta,  was 
a  recent  thing,  and  was,  in  fact,  as  completely  an  anti-Christian 
power,  and  as  jealous  of  all  Christian  propagandism*  as  that 
of  the  Mogul  emperors  had  been,  when  they  reigned  in  abso- 
lute dominion  at  Delhi.  China,  like  Japan,  was  closed  and 
guarded  against  Christianity  in  every  form.  Africa,  except 
along  its  ravaged  and  pestilential  coast,  was  a  continent  of 
mystery,  hardly  visited,  save  by  the  traders  in  slaves  ;  for  even 
in  the  United  States,  whose  government  was  earlier  than  that 
of  any  other  country  in  prohibiting  the  slave  trade,  the  impor- 
tation of  slaves  from  Africa  had  been  unlawful  only  two  years. 
On  our  own  frontier,  the  pagan  savage,  who  had  learned  noth- 
ing from  civilization  but  its  vices,  and  had  been  enriched  by  it 
only  with  new  implements  and  means  of  destruction,  was  still 
encamped  in  Ohio,  was  hunting  the  buffalo  on  all  the  prairies, 
and  his  canoe  had  not  begun  to  be  displaced  by  the  raft  and 
the  flat-boat  on  the  waters  of  the  Upper  Mississippi.  What  is 
now  our  western  coast  was  hardly  known  to  commerce  ;  Cali- 
fornia was  one  of  the  remotest  and  least  valued  possessions  of 
Spain,  and  no  eye  of  avarice  had  caught  the  sparkle  of  its 
golden  sand.  The  first  overland  journey  up  to  the  sources  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  down  along  the  leaping  waters  of  the 
Columbia  to  the  Pacific,  had  just  been  accomplished  at  the 
expense  of  our  national  government.  At  that  time,  the  entire 
census  of  the  United  States  included  less  than  one  fourth  of 
the  population  which  will  be  counted  in  the  census  of  the 
present  year,  and  the  capability  of  the  wealth  which  has  now 
been  realized  on  this  continent  had  never  been  estimated.  To 
draw  out  a  full  comparison  of  the  civilized  world  as  it  then 
was,  with  the  civilized  world  as  it  now  is,  both  in  itself  and 
in  its  relations  to  what  lies  beyond  the  realm  of  civilization, 
would  require  a  volume  ;  but  it  may  help  us  to  conceive  the 


THE  FIELD  AND  THE  WORK.  385 

difference,  if  we  remember  that  then  the  scientific  law  or 
principle,  on  which  the  electric  telegraph  depends,  had  not 
been  discovered  or  conjectured ;  that  the  idea  of  railways  was, 
at  the  most,  no  more  than  a  vague  and  visionary  thought ; 
and  that  all  the  steamboats  that  had  ever  been  successfully 
constructed  —  two  or  three  in  number  —  were  creeping  on 
the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware  at  the  rate  of  perhaps  five  miles 
an  hour. 

"  The  spirit  that  prays  for  the  coming  of  God's  kingdom  in 
all  the  earth,"  continues  this  writer,  "and  that  longs  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature,  has  never  wholly  slumbered  in 
any  Christian  land ;  for  it  is  inseparable  from  a  living  Chris- 
tianity every  where.  From  the  days  of  the  apostolic  Eliot, 
who  was  at  once  the  pastor  of  the  church  at  Roxbury  and  the 
laborious  missionary  to  Indians  within  ten  miles  of  his  own 
door,  the  saintly  succession  of  evangelists  among  the  heathen 
has  never  failed  from  the  churches  of  New  England.  But 
prior  to  1810,  the  spirit  of  evangelism  in  the  American 
churches  had  '  lacked  opportunity '  for  full  manifestation  and 
development.  In  Connecticut,  there  was  a  missionary  society, 
which  was  the  organ  of  all  the  Congregational  churches  in  the 
State,  and  which,  though  first  and  chiefly  occupied  with  mis- 
sions to  the  new  settlements,  had  once,  for  a  short  time, 
attempted  a  mission  among  the  Indians  of  the  far  north-west. 
A  Connecticut  Bible  Society  was  instituted  in  1809,  to  pro- 
mote the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures.  In  Massachusetts, 
and  in  two  or  three  other  States,  similar  institutions  existed 
for  missions,  especially  to  the  new  settlements,  and  for  aiding 
in  the  supply  of  Bibles ;  but,  as  lately  as  fifty  years  ago,  the 
idea  of  a  widely-extended  cooperation  for  spreading  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ,  either  abroad  or  at  home,  had  never  been 
shaped  into  a  plan.  In  some  other  countries,  and  especially 
in  free  and  Protestant  Great  Britain,  the  missionary  spirit  was 
waking  up,  and  was  organizing  institutions  of  various  names 
and  forms  for  sending  the  gospel  through  the  world.  For 
more  than  a  century  there  had  been  in  the  Church  of  England 
a  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  which 
49 


386  THE  MISSIONS. 

employed  its  resources  chiefly  in  sending  missionaries  into  the 
British  colonies ;  among  which  the  New  England  colonies,  and 
especially  Connecticut,  though  better  provided  with  the  means 
of  religious  instruction  than  England  itself  had  ever  been, 
were  liberally  cared  for,  till  they  were  separated  from  the 
mother  country.  The  Moravians,  few  and  feeble,  but  full  of 
Christian'  zeal,  had  been  at  work  for  almost  eighty  years  —  a 
silent  but  constant  rebuke  to  the  Christian  world.  The  Eng- 
lish "Wesleyans,  at  an  early  day  in  their  history,  had  begun  to 
do  something  for  the  conversion  of  the  slaves  in  the  West 
Indies.  In  1792,  Carey  and  others  had  brought  about  the 
formation  of  a  Missionary  Society  for  the  Baptists  in  England. 
Three  years  later,  the  London  Missionary  Society  came  into 
being  on  a  liberal  basis  of  cooperation,  though  chiefly  sus- 
tained by  Congregationalists,  or,  as  they  were  then  called  in 
England,  Independents.  The  Church  Missionary  Society,  sus- 
tained and  controlled  by  the  evangelical  party  in  the  Church 
of  England,  was  instituted  under  the  name  of  the  Society  for 
Missions  to  Africa  and  the  East,  in  1801  —  nine  years  before 
our  Board  of  Missions  offered  itself  to  the  American  churches 
as  their  almoner  and  servant  in  the  foreign  missionary  work. 
In  1810,  there  were  a  few  English  and  Scotch  missionaries  in 
India ;  a  few  were  laboring  in  the  British  African  colony  of 
Sierra  Leone,  and  a  larger  number  in  Southern  Africa.  The 
London  Society  had  its  missions  in  Tahiti  and  the  Society 
Islands ;  and  Morrison,  in  their  service,  had  set  himself  down 
before  the  gates  of  China,  patiently  striving  to  master  the 
language  of  that  great  empire,  that  it  might  learn  to  tell  the 
story  of  redemption.  There  were  missionaries  among  the 
slaves  in  various  West  Indian  colonies.  The  Moravians  had 
their  stations  in  Greenland  and  Labrador,  a  few  among  the 
North  American  Indians,  and  a  few  elsewhere  —  few  when 
compared  with  the  vastness  of  the  field,  but  many  when  com- 
pared with  the  weakness  and  the  poverty  of  the  body  by  which 
they  were  sustained.  Nothing  was  done  or  attempted  by  the 
American  churches  ;  a  little  more  than  a  beginning  had  been 
made  by  our  British  kindred  in  the  work  of  spreading  the 
gospel  through  the  world. 


THE   FIELD   AND   THE  WORK.  387 

"We  may  say,  then,  that  fifty  years  ago,  when  the  foreign 
missionary  work  of  the  American  churches  had  not  been  be- 
gun, the  entire  movement  of  these  modern  times  for  the  evan- 
gelization and  conversion  of  the  world  was  only  in  its  earliest 
stage  of  progress.  Every  where  that  was  the  day  of  small 
things,  in  comparison  with  what  we  see  to-day."  * 

It  should  be  added  to  this  well-drawn  statement,  that  the 
foreign  missionary  was  scarcely  recognized  as  entitled,  when 
abroad  in  his  distant  field,  to  that  protection  which  the  mer- 
chant and  traveler  might  lawfully  demand  ;  nor  was  his  voca- 
tion then  recognized  as  among  the  legally  authorized  pursuits 
of  life.  Even  in  the  Christian  Church,  notwithstanding  the 
parting  injunction  of  its  ascending  Lord,  to  PEEACH  THE  GOS- 
PEL TO  EVERY  CREATURE,  the  work  of  missions  was  but  par- 
tially acknowledged  as  among  the  standing  Christian  duties. 
It  may  be  that  those  who  shall  look  back  to  the  present  time 
from  the  close  of  the  second  half-century,  will  regard  the 
period  we  are  now  commemorating  as  itself  comparatively  a 
day  of  small  things.  May  they  have  reason  so  to  do.  But 
contrasting  the  present  with  our  own  past,  we  are  constrained 
to  say,  What  hath  God  wrought !  A  brief  survey  will  now  be 
taken  of  the  field,  and  of  the  work,  as  they  are  at  the  present 
time. 

Many  things,  Ibesides  the  sending  forth  of  heralds  of  the 
cross,  and  the  publication  of  the  gospel,  are  indispensable  to 
the  conversion  of  the  world.  Though  merely  preparatory  to 
it,  they  are  nevertheless  essential,  and  therefore  a  part  of  the 
work,  and  of  God's  plan  and  providence  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. Among  them  may  be  mentioned,  — 

1.  A  Knowledge  of  the  Geography  of  the  Earth.  —  How 
little  our  fathers  knew  of  Africa,  of  Central  Asia,  India,  and 
China,  and  of  the  islands  of  the  sea !  But  the  entire  world, 
with  the  exception  of  some  few  portions,  and  those  hastening 

»  New  Englander,  1860,  p.  712. 


388  THE  MISSIONS. 

to  the  light,  is  now  well  known.  So  far  as  the  world's  conver- 
sion involves  a  knowledge  of  its  surface,  that  part  of  the 
enterprise  is  far  advanced  toward  completion. 

2.  A  Knowledge  of  the  Social  and  Religious  Condition  of 
Mankind.  —  What  more  needs  to  be  learned  concerning  the 
governments,  manners,  customs,  habits,  and  religions  of  our 
race  ?  What  more  needs  to  be  done  in  collecting  and  record- 
ing facts  for  awakening  the  sympathies  and  enterprise  of  the 
Christian  Church  ?  This  part  of  the  work  has  been  substan- 
tially accomplished.  When  the  Board  sent  forth  its  first  mis- 
sionaries, it  was  impossible  to  say  what  particular  field  they 
should  occupy.  The  Prudential  Committee  could  now  easily 
assign  definite  locations  to  many  scores  of  new  missionaries. 
Xo.  The  Political  Ascendency  of  Protestant  Christianity.  — 
/India,  with  its  hundred  and  fifty  millions,  bows  to  Protestant 
I  rule ;  and  that  has  created  a  political  necessity  for  throwing  a 
^protecting  shield  over  evangelical  missionaries  in  Birmah,  Chi- 
na, Persia,  and  Turkey.  Every  war  in  Asia,  for  the  past  half- 
century,  has  been  fulfilling  the  prophecy,  that  the  valleys  shall 
be  exalted,  and  the  mountains  and  hills  made  low,  the  crooked 
made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain.  The  apocalyptic 
angel  has  hold  upon  "  the  dragon,  that  old  serpent,  which  is 
the  Devil  and  Satan."  The  great  anti-Christian  powers  are 
acting  under  mighty  restraints.  We  see  it  in  the  Pacific,  in 
China,  in  India,  and  in  Turkey.  And  these  providential  influ- 
ences are  more  and  more  evidently  preparing  the  way  for 
Christ's  progress,  with  his  gospel,  through  the  unevangelized 
nations.  Just  at  the  close  of  the  half-century,  we  saw  the 
representatives  of  the  four  great  powers  of  Christendom  assem- 
bled in  China,  and  uniting  in  the  declaration  that  the  Chris- 
tian missionary  ought  to  receive  the  respect,  confidence,  and 
protection  of  all  governments,  and  treating  upon  this  basis 
with  a  third  part  of  the  heathen  world  for  the  toleration  and 
safety  of  these  gospel  messengers  and  of  their  converts.* 
4.  A  General  Acknowledgment  by  Evangelical  Protestant 

*  Missionary  Herald  for  1858,  p.  364. 


THE   FIELD   AND   THE  WORK.  389 

Churches  of  the  Duty  to  propagate  the  Gospel  among"  all  Na- 
tions.—  This  appears,  indeed,  in  many  Christians,  and  in  many 
churches,  to  be  little  more  than  the  result  of  an  intellectual 
conviction,  and  so  is  yet  but  feebly  operative.  Though  it  be 
really  as  much  a  duty  to  propagate  the  gospel,  as  it  is  to  attend 
on  public  worship,  or  at  the  Lordrs  table,  yet  comparatively  few 
Christians  take  this  view ;  nor  do  pastors  often  press  the  duty 
thus  upon  their  people.  But  the  diffusion  of  even  a  mere  intel- 
lectual conviction  of  the  claims  of  foreign  missions,  is  a  great 
point  gained  ;  and  this  part  of  the  work  is  in  a  good  measure 
accomplished. 

5.-  The  Extent  of  Organization  for  performing-  the  Work. 
—  What  are  called  voluntary  associations  for  religious  pur- 
poses, in  distinction  from  local  churches,  are  not  a  new  thing. 
They  have  existed  from  an  early. period.  Through  them  the 
gospel  has  ever  been  propagated  by  the  Church  beyond  the 
influence  of  its  own  immediate  pastors.  Monasteries  were  vol- 
untary societies ;  and  so  were  the  different  orders  of  monks. 
It  was  by  means  of  such  associations  that  Christianity  was 
propagated  among  our  ancestors,  and  over  Europe.  These 
are  the  Papal  forms  of  missionary  societies  and  missions.  . 

The  Protestant  form  is  what  we  see  in  Missionary,  Biblej, 
Tract,  and  other  kindred  societies  ;  not  restricted  to  ecclesias- 
tics, nor  to  any  one  profession  ;  combining  all  classes ;  embra- 
cing the  masses  of  the  people  ;  free,  open,  responsible.  Tlrey 
are  associations  formed  by  the  contributors  of  the  funds  ;  not 
so  much  the  American  Board,  not  so  much  the  Board  of  the 
General  Assembly,  as  individuals,  churches,  congregations, 
freely  acting  together,  through  such  agencies,  for  a  common 
object. 

This  free,  open,  responsible,  Protestant  form  of  association 
embracing  both  sexes,  and  all  classes  and  ages,  —  the  masses^ 
of  the  people,  —  is  peculiar  to  modern  times.  It  could  not 
have  been  worked,  could  not  have  existed,  even,  with  sufficient 
energy  for  the  conversion  of  the  world,  without  facilities  for 
intercommunication  among  the  nations,  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty, extended  habits  of  reading,  and  a  wide-spread  intelligence.^ 


390  THE  MISSIONS. 

The  success  which  has  attended  the  missions,  is  all  that  is 
needful  to  animate  'to  greater  zeal  in  this  good  work.  Dr. 
Joseph  Mullens,  of  Calcutta,  who  has  given  great  attention  to 
this  subject,  spoke  thus  at  the  closing  session  of  the  late  Liver- 
pool Missionary  Conference :  — 

"  What  a  glorious  position  do  we  occupy,  compared  with 
that  in  which  the  fathers  and  founders  of  our  missionary  soci- 
eties stood  when  they  commenced  the  work,  only  a  few  years 
ago !  Our  modern  missions  are  only  sixty  years  old,  and 
already  we  see  the  face  of  the  wide  world  rapidly  changing 
under  their  mighty  influence.  I  doubt  if  a  single  convert  had 
been  made  through  those  labors  before  the  year  1800.  Dr. 
Carey  had  gone  to  India ;  his  few  brethren  had  joined  him, 
and  they  had  settled  at  Serampore  as  the  center  of  their  labors. 
A  few  of  our  brethren  had  sailed  for  the  South  Sea  Islands. 
There  were  one  or  two  missionaries  in  Africa,  one  or  two  in 
the  West  Indies,  and  the  rest  of  the  world  was  an  awful  blank. 
But  now  we  look  abroad  upon  the  earth,  and,  without  reck- 
oning the  work  carried  on  in  our  English  colonies,  we  see  at 
this  moment  sixteen  hundred  foreign  missionaries  from  Europe 
and  America,  laboring  in  heathen  countries,  and  in  many  lan- 
.  guages.  As  one  result  of  our  work,  we  have  already  gathered 
two  hundred  thousand  communicants,  in  many  thousands  of 
native  churches,  now  sitting  beneath  the  banner  of  the  gospel, 
rejoicing  in  Sabbath  ordinances,  and  all  the  blessed  privileges 
that  cluster  round  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Our  work  began 
amidst  the  apathy  of  friends,  and  the  loudest  obloquy  on  the 
part  of  our  enemies.  Society  in  England  was  thoroughly 
devoted  to  worldliness,  and  steeped  in  the  most  shameless 
wickedness  and  vice.  French  infidelity,  the  great  product  of 
lie  revolution,  was  all  the  rage  among  the  so-called  thinkers 
of  the  day,  an  infidelity  which  found  its  way  to  our  colonies, 
and  to  the  English  settlements  in  India,  and  which  there,  as 
elsewhere,  brought  forth  its  bitter  fruit.  But  just  when  the 
enemy  had  come  in  like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  lifted 
up  a  standard  against  him ;  and  now,  thanks  be  to  God,  that 


THE  FIELD   AND  THE  WORK.  391 

glorious  standard  has  been  lifted  high,  and  all  branches  of  the 
Christian  Church,  throwing  aside  their  doubts  and  casting 
away  their  apathy,  are  delighted  to  enlist  in  its  service,  and  to 
go  forth  under  the  great  Captain  of  our  salvation,  conquer- 
ing and  to  conquer  in  his  name. 

"  We  go  to  Africa ;  and  where,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  the  Hottentot,  and  Fingoe,  and  Kaffir  were  shot  down 
without  mercy,  there  we  find  a  people,  one  hundred  thousand 
in  number,  saved  from  destruction,  brought  to  Christ,  and 
adorning  the  doctrine  of  the  Saviour,  whom  their  fathers  never 
knew.  We  go  to  the  negro  settlements  in  the  West  Indies. 
How  many  thousands  there  have  become  Christians,  redeemed 
not  only  from  the  slavery  of  earth,  but  from  the  slavery  of 
sin !  They  who,  only  thirty  years  ago,  were  sold  in  the  open 
market,  have  proved  the  most  liberal  supporters  of  gospel 
schemes  that  the  modern  Church  has  known,  and  were  the 
first  converts  to  maintain  ministers  of  their  own.  Only  seven- 
teen years  ago,  the  various  ports  of  China  were  open  to  gospel 
teaching  for  the  first  time  ;  and  now  we  see  in  those  ports  no 
less  than  eighty  Protestant  missionaries,  of  many  Churches, 
working  for  Christ.  Already,  in  the  course  of  those  seven- 
teen years,  they  have  been  permitted  to  gather  into  their 
churches  some  fourteen  hundred  communicants.  We  pass  on 
to  Birmah ;  and  there  we  find,  rejoicing  in  the  light  and  lib- 
erty of  the  truth,  many  thousands  of  Karens ;  every  one  of 
whom,  thirty  years  ago,  was  entirely  ignorant  of  its  very  exist- 
ence. There  they  are,  meeting  like  ourselves  on  the  Sabbath ; 
working  like  ourselves  for  their  ignorant  brethren  ;  supporting 
their  pastors  with  the  most  active  and  self-denying  zeal ;  con- 
templating the  destitution  of  their  heathen  countrymen  with 
compassion  ;  and  sending  forth  one  and  another  of  their  breth- 
ren, with  their  lives  in  their  hands,  to  preach  Christ  among  the 
barbarous  tribes  still  living  in  the  mountains  and  the  dense 
jungles  of  their  own  wild  land.  We  pass  on  to  India ;  and 
again  we  see,  in  several  provinces  of  that  extended  empire, 
churches  and  Christians  gathered,  and  the  foundations  of  a 
great  work  in  the  future,  laid  by  the  hand  of  missionaries, 


392  THE  MISSIONS. 

who  have  been  working  there  for  many  years.  Obstacles  to 
our  entrance,  to  our  permanent  residence,  to  our  safety  in  the 
country,  have  all  passed  away ;  and,  blessed  be  God,  after  the 
appalling  history  of  the  recent  mutiny,  we  rejoice  to  know 
that  India  has  found  not  only  order  and  peace,  not  only  the 
services  of  faithful  missionaries  within  her  own  borders,  but 
has  at  last  found  a  place,  deep  and  firmly  fixed,  in  the  hearts 
of  our  brethren  at  home ;  and  we  feel  sure  that,  when  the 
claims  of  that  mighty  continent  are  faithfully  pressed  upon 
them,  our  voice  will  be  heard,  and  a  hearty  response  given  to 
our  appeal.  And  let  us  not  forget  the  successful  toil  of  our 
brethren  in  Turkey,  to  revive  the  decayed  Churches,  and  to 
grapple  with  Mohammedan  error  at  its  very  heart. 

"  Not  only  may  we  rejoice  in  these  great  successes,  but,  with 
all  my  missionary  brethren  here  present,  I  cheerfully  acknowl- 
edge, that  in  securing  them,  we  have  been  largely  indebted  to 
our  native  brethren,  working  side  by  side  with  us  in  these 
fields  of  labor.  We  were  told  in  very  affecting  terms,  by  Dr. 
Tidman,  the  other  day,  to  look  at  the  poor  Island  of  Mada- 
gascar. More  than  twenty  years  ago  the  English  missionaries 
were  driven  from  that  island  by  the  unrighteous  queen,  and 
scarcely  fifty  native  Christians  were  left  behind.  They  possessed 
but  very  small  portions  of  the  word  of  God,  some  little  tracts, 
and  a  few  hymns.  They  have  been  bitterly  and  unrelentingly 
persecuted,  with  satanic  cunning  and  satanic  hate.  They  have 
been  fined,  imprisoned,  degraded,  and  made  slaves ;  they 
h^ive  been  poisoned  by  the  tangena  water ;  they  have  been 
speared  to  death ;  they  have  been  cast  over  lofty  precipices ; 
they  have  been  burned  at  the  stake,  while  the  glorious  rain- 
bow arched  the  heavens  and  inspired  them  with  more  than 
mortal  joy.  They  have  given  more  than  a  hundred  martyrs 
to  the  Church  of  Christ ;  but  are  far  from  being  rooted  out  of 
the  land.  While,  twenty  years  ago,  when  the  persecution 
began,  there  were  not  fifty  Christians  on  the  island,  it  is 
believed  that  there  are  now  at  least  five  thousand ;  all  of 
whom  have  been  raised  up  by  the  special  blessing  of  the  divine 
Spirit  upon  the  teachings  of  native  agents  and  the  secret  study 
of  God's  holy  word. 


THE   FIELD  AND  THE  WORK.  393 

"  "We  pass  away  to  the  Island  of  Tahiti ;  and  there  we  see 
that,  whilst  French  Popery  has  endeavored  to  exert  its  influ- 
ence, and  to  present  its  blandishments  to  those  who  were 
despised  as  the  poor  and  ignorant  natives  of  the  country,  they 
have  adhered  most  faithfully  to  their  Protestant  religion.  We 
find  that  when  the  missionaries  were  compelled  to  leave  the 
country,  their  own  native  pastors  came  forward ;  received 
from  heaven  all  the  grace  ever  promised  to  Christ's  children 
in  the  time  of  need ;  and  at  this  hour,  in  spite  of  French 
Popery,  and  in  spite  of  French  brandy,  the  members  of  the 
Tahitian  churches  are  more  numerous  than  when  the  mission- 
aries were  compelled  to  leave  them."  * 

Richard  H.  Dana,  Esq.,  a  respected  member  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  of  the  Boston  bar,  after  being  two  months  at 
the  Sandwich  Islands  in  the  year  1860,  thus  speaks  of  the 
value  of  the  missionary  work  on  those  Islands  :  — 

"  It  is  no  small  thing  to  say  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board,  that  in  less  than  forty  years  they  have  taught  this 
whole  people  to  read  and  to  write,  to  cipher  and  to  sew.  They 
have  given  them  an  alphabet,  grammar,  arid  dictionary ;  pre- 
served their  language  from  extinction  ;  given  it  a  literature, 
and  translated  into  it  the  Bible  and  works  of  devotion,  science, 
and  entertainment,  etc.,  etc.  They  have  established  schools, 
reared  up  native  teachers,  and  so  pressed  their  work  that  now 
the  proportion  of  inhabitants  who  can  read  is  greater  than  in 
New  England.  And  whereas  they  found  these  islanders  a 
nation  of  half-naked  savages,  living  in  the  surf  and  on  the 
sand,  eating  raw  fish,  fighting  among  themselves,  tyrannized 
over  by  feudal  chiefs,  and  abandoned  to  sensuality,. they  now 
see  them  decently  clothed,  recognizing  the  law  of  marriage, 
knowing  something  of  accounts,  going  to  school  and  public 
worship  with  more  regularity  than  the  people  do  at  home,  and 
the  more  elevated  of  them  taking  part  in  conducting  the 
affairs  of  the  constitutional  monarchy  imder  which  they  live, 

*  Missionary  Conference  at  Liverpool,  p.  331. 

50 


394  THE  MISSIONS. 

holding  seats  on   the  judicial  bench  and  in  the  legislative 
chambers,  and  filling  posts  in  the  local  magistracies." 

The  missions  of  the  American  Board  in  Turkey  require  a 
more  particular  notice  than  they  have  yet  received  in  our  sur- 
vey of  the  field  and  the  work  at  the  close  of  our  half-century ; 
and  here  we  can  not  do  better  than  to  quote  again  from  Dr. 
Bacon. 

"  Still  more  important  in  respect  to  the  progress  of  civiliza- 
tion," says  Dr.  Bacon,  "  are  the  results  which  are  beginning  to 
be  developed  in  Turkey.  Thirty  years  ago,  all  the  Protestant- 
ism within  the  limits  of  the  Turkish  empire  was  in  the  souls  of 
not  more  than  ten  earnest  inquirers  after  truth  and  duty,  who 
had  rejected  the  superstitious  doctrines  and  practices  of  the 
nominally  Christian  communities  in  which  they  were  born,  and 
from  which  they  had  not  seceded.  To-day  the  Protestantism 
of  Turkey,  profoundly  interesting  in  a  religious  view,  and 
regarded  with  wondering  thankfulness  by  evangelical  Chris- 
tians every  where,  has  already  become  a  political  fact  of  great 
significance.  Not  only  is  it  recognized  by  alarmed  and  jealous 
ecclesiastics,  Armenian,  Greek,  and  Papal,  combining  to  main- 
tain their  several  hierarchies,  —  it  has  long  been  known  as  a 
stubborn  fact  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Sublime  Porte ;  it  is 
already  an  element  in  the  international  diplomacy  of  Europe. 
There  are  now  in  Turkey  more  than  forty  evangelical  churches, 
including  nearly  thirteen  hundred  communicants.  The  Prot- 
estant population  connected  with  these  churches,  attending 
upon  their  worship,  and  professing  to  acknowledge  theirs  as 
the  true  Christianity,  is  counted  by  thousands,  and  is  continu- 
ally increasing.  These  Protestant  churches,  formed  and  guided 
by  our  missionaries,  have  obtained  from  the  government,  not 
merely  a  promise  that  their  existence  shall  be  winked  at,  but 
a  legal  standing  and  a  recognized  place  among  the  distinct 
communities  that  constitute  the  empire.  Turkish  Protestant- 
ism has  its  charter  of  incorporation  as  a  civil  community,  its 
own  internal  government,  its  civil  chief  and  representative  at 


THE   FIELD   AND   THE  WORK.  395 

the  imperial  metropolis.  In  an  empire  which  consists  of  many 
distinct  nations,  dispersed  and  interspersed  through  various 
provinces, —  religious  and  ecclesiastical  connection,  rather  than 
country  or  community  of  origin  or  of  speech,  being  the  essence 
of  nationality,  —  the  native  Protestantism,  that  had  no  exist- 
ence till  within  the  last  few  years,  has  become  a  nation.  And 
among  those  nationalities,  it  is  distinguished  by  two  charac- 
teristics equally  American  and  Christian.  First,  in  that  inter- 
nal self-government  which  is  its  chartered  privilege,  it  is  purely 
republican.  Its  local  officers  are  chosen  by  popular  election, 
each  local  community  being  (like  the  inhabitants  of  a  New 
England  town,  though  with  far  less  of  personal  liberty)  a  mu- 
nicipal democracy.  Its  civil  chief  and  his  official  council  at 
Constantinople  are  chosen  by  the  united  suffrages  of  all  the 
local  communities  throughout  the  empire.  Thus  Protestant-  |  / 
ism  in  Turkey  is  an  organized  and  chartered  republic,  with 
limited  powers,  under  the  sovereignty  of  the  Sultan ;  while  in 
all  that  empire  there  is  no  other  rudiment  or  germ  of  repub- 
licanism. The  second  characteristic  is,  that  by  the  Protestants  \ 
in  Turkey,  the  distinction  between  church  and  state  is  clearly 
drawn  and  persistently  maintained.  Every  other  nationality 
is  recognized  and  governed  simply  as  a  national  church, 
through  its  ecclesiastical  officers,  its  patriarch  or  metropoli- 
tan bishop  being  the  organ  of  communication  between  the 
community  and  the  imperial  government. 

"  These  two  peculiarities  of  the  Protestant  organization  are 
not  without  a  marked  effect  on  the  character  and  position  of 
the  Protestants  as  a  body,  and  the  influence  of  the  unique 
institution  is  beginning  to  be  felt  in  other  communities.  This 
Protestantism, — or,  as  we  might  say,  this  Americanism,  —  with 
its  internal  democracy,  civil  and  religious,  and  with  its  careful 
and  palpable  separation  of  secular  offices  from  ecclesiastical 
functions,  is  the  most  vital  and  growing  thing  in  Turkey.  To 
its  converts  from  the  old  Mono-physite  communion  of  the  Ar- 
menian nation,  from  the  Jacobite  Syrian  Church,  from  the 
Greek  Church,  and  from  the  various  Papal  sects,  it  is  now  add- 
ing converts  from  Islamisni.  The  spirit  of  inquiry  concerning 


396     .  THE  MISSIONS. 

this  reformed  Christianity,  that  abhors  idolatry,  and  that  rests 
on  no  other  authority  than  the  Holy  Scriptures,  is  manifesting 
itself  in  every  direction.  Nothing  but  the  embarrassment  of 
the  Board,  with  its  limited  resources,  and  with  its  burden  of 
indebtedness  caused  by  the  successes  in  that  field,  seems  to 
prevent  an  almost  indefinite  expansion  of  the  work.  The  mis- 
sions in  Turkey  have  become  in  some  respects  without  a  par- 
allel among  the  missionary  enterprises  of  the  age.  No  other 
mission  opens  such  prospects.  In  none  is  the  crisis  so  immi- 
nent. In  none  are  such  results  dependent  on  the  question  of 
seizing  or  neglecting  the  present  opportunity.  More  than  one 
third  of  all  the  annual  expenditure  of  the  Board  has  been  con- 
centrated there,  and  twice  as  much  might  be  expended  there 
to  advantage.  If  those  who  make  the  Board  their  almoner 
fail  not  in  the  exigency,  there  is  good  reason  for  the  confidence 
that  in  a  few  years  more,  unless  some  great  catastrophe  shall 
intervene,  the  Protestantism  of  Turkey  will  be  able  to  provide 
for  itself."  * 

The  Nestorians  are  partly  in  Turkey,  partly  in  Persia.  A 
spiritual  reformation  is  in  progress  among  them  ;  though  it  has 
been  retarded  by  the  extreme  ignorance  and  poverty  of  the 
people,  by  an  unprincipled  hierarchy,  an  oppressive  govern- 
ment, and  the  wiles  of  Popery.  So  many  Nestorian  priests 
have  become  "  obedient  to  the  faith,"  that  the  missionaries 
have  felt  encouraged  to  labor  for  a  spiritual  reform,  without 
radical  ecclesiastical  changes.  The  truly  pious  Nestorians  are 
being  gradually  drawn  together,  under  the  force  of  circum- 
stances, for  the  simple  observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  for 
Christian  fellowship,  for  mutual  watch  and  care,  for  securing 
an  edifying  ministry  and  pastoral  oversight.  Thus  a  reformed 
church  seems  to  be  actually  growing  up,  with  an  appropriate 
ministry,  ritual,  and  worship.  Among  a  people  so  few  in 
number,  so  poor  and  .oppressed  as  the  Nestorians,  surrounded 
by  enemies,  in  the  heart  of  Asia,  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether 

*  New  Englander,  1860,  p.  721. 


THE   FIELD   AND   THE   WORK.  397 

this  evangelical  community  can  live  and  flourish.  If  it  prove 
indeed  a  part  of  the  true  Church,  though  it  be  but  a  small 
flock  in  the  wilderness,  the  Good  Shepherd  may  go  before  it, 
and  guard  it  from  every  danger.  Perhaps  it  really  is  in  no 
more  need  of  his  grace  and  power,  than  is  every  other  portion 
of  the  Church  in  this  depraved  and  hostile  world.  Certainly 
the  Nestorians  have  an  imperishable  missionary  history.  The 
fruits  of  their  missions  in  Central  and  Eastern  Asia,  existed 
for  more  than  a  thousand  years.  From  the  fifth  to  the  ninth 
centuries,  they  had  schools  at  Edessa,  Nisibis,  Seleucia,  Dor- 
kena,  Bagdad,  and  elsewhere  in  Assyria  and  Persia.  They 
occupied  the  region  which  forms  the  modern  kingdom  of  Per- 
sia, in  all  parts  of  which  they  had  churches.  They  were  nu- 
merous in  Armenia,  Mesopotamia,  and  Arabia.  They  had 
churches  in  Syria,  in  the  Island  of  Cyprus,  and  among  the 
mountains  of  Malabar  in  India.  They  had  numerous  churches 
in  the  vast  regions  of  Tartary,  from  the  Caspian  Sea  to  Mount 
Imaus,  and  beyond,  through  the  greater  part  of  what  is  now 
known  as  Chinese  Tartary,  and  even  in  China  itself.  It  would 
seem  that  such  a  people,  now  revisited  and  revived  by  a  purer 
gospel  than  they  once  propagated  with  so  much  zeal  and  suc- 
cess, had  yet  an  evangelical  work  to  perform  in  the  vast  and 
benighted  regions  of  Central  Asia.  It  will  be  for  those,  on 
whom  it  shall  devolve  to  investigate  and  record  the  missionary 
developments  of  the  next  half-century,  to  state  the  results,  as 
yet  imperfectly  unfolded,  of  this  mission  of  the  American 
Board  to  the  Nestorians. 

Of  the  fields  that  are  occupied  by  the  Board  still  further 
east,  —  the  Mahratta  and  Tamil,  —  it  may  suffice  to  say,  that 
they  are  among  the  best  in  India.  The  people  are  accessible ; 
the  government  is  tolerant,  and  reasonably  protective ;  there 
is  freedom  to  sow,  and  security  in  reaping,  and  promise  of  an 
ample  harvest  in  due  season. 

Auxiliary  to  these  great  movements  of  the  age  for  the  uni- 
versal propagation  of  the  gospel,  are  the  efforts  for  multiplying 


398  THE  MISSIONS. 

versions  and  copies  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  for  distrib- 
uting them,  in  the  different  languages  of  the  world.  In  the 
first  fifty  years  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  from 
1804  to  1854,  nearly  twenty-eight  millions  of  copies  of  the 
Scriptures  were  distributed,  in  whole  or  in  integral  portions, 
in  connection  with  the  labors  of  that  Society ;  and  above 
twenty  millions  more  were  distributed  by  kindred  institutions 
in  different  parts  of  the  world ;  making  a  total  of  nearly  fifty 
millions.  These  were  in  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
different  languages  or  dialects,  in  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
of  which  no  portion  of  the  sacred  volume  had  previously 
appeared  in  print.* 

It  is  not  known  that  an  attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  affix 
a  pecuniary  valuation  to  this  mighty  system  of  means  for  the 
spiritual  renovation  of  the  heathen  world.  It  is  clear,  indeed, 
that  some  of  its  results  will  not  submit  to  human  valua- 
tion. Such  are  the  many  thousand  converts,  who  have  been 
received  into  the  Christian  Church.  Such  are  the  ideas 
imparted  to  the  understanding  ;  the  impressions  made  upon 
the  conscience  and  heart ;  the  intellectual  and  religious  influ- 
ences exerted  upon  the  heathen.  The  precious  metals  of  all 
the  mines  of  the  world  would  not  express  their  value  ;  for  the 
world  itself  is  of  no  account  in  comparison  with  a  single  soul. 
But  there  is  an  aspect,  in  which  a  specific  value  may  be 
assigned  to  the  work.  Regarding  it  as  an  enterprise,  a  busi- 
ness, a  system  of  means  and  agencies,  there  is  no  more  impro- 
priety in  an  inquiry  as  to  its  value,  than  there  is  as  to  the 
value  of  any  other  enterprise  of  man.  What,  we  may  ask,  is 
the  value  of  these  organized  agencies,  at  home  and  abroad  ? 
Were  there  a  mart  for  the  sale  and  purchase  of  such  commod- 
ities, what  might  be  the  estimate  put  upon  this  vast  system'  of 
means  and  agencies  ?  In  other  words,  what  would  it  cost  to 
reproduce  the  system,  with  all  its  means  for  direct  action  and 
reaction  in  the  Christian  and  heathen  world  ? 

*  History  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  by  Rev.  George  Brown, 
1859,  vol.  ii.  p.  487. 


THE  FIELD  AND  THE  WORK.  899 

"We  shall  venture  to  suggest  a  conjectural  answer  in  respect 
to  the  system  under  the  care  of  the  American  Board.  The 
aggregate  expenditure  for  these  missions  has  exceeded  eight 
and  a  half  millions  of  dollars.  The  most  valuable  results  of 
this  expenditure,  through  the  grace  of  God, — namely,  the  sal- 
vation of  souls, — must,  for  the  reasons  already  mentioned,  be 
left  entirely  out  of  the  account.  But  the  system  of  agencies 
is  a  thing  distinct  from  its  results.  It  involves  property,  in 
the  common  sense  —  buildings  in  different  parts  of  the  world, 
printing  establishments,  libraries,  apparatus,  etc.  And  there 
are  the  home  organizations  :  the  Board,  with  its  thousands  of 
members  ;  the  Prudential  Committee  and  executive  officers, 
with  a  large  and  valuable  experience ;  the  agencies ;  a  vast 
organism  of  auxiliaries,  associations,  collectors,  annual  ser- 
mons and  reports ;  widely-circulated  periodicals ;  a  multifari- 
ous acquaintance  with  ministers,  churches,  and  people ;  and  a 
financial  credit,  the  growth  of  half  a  century,  now  extended 
through  the  commercial  world.  There  is  a  vast  organism 
abroad,  the  growth  also  of  fifty  years :  missions,  many  of  them 
established  long  ago,  in  different  and  widely-distant  parts  of 
the  unevangelized  world,  after  much  suffering  and  disappoint- 
ment, at  great  expense  of  money,  labor,  health,  and  even  life  ; 
numerous  missionaries,  liberally  educated,  conversant  with 
the  people  and  their  languages,  able  to  preach  the  gospel,  and 
to  do  all  the  work  of  an  embassador  of  Christ  to  the  heathen ; 
acclimated,  experienced,  and  of  tried  character ;  the  result  of 
a  large  expenditure  in  the  case  of  each  individual.  There 
are  churches,  congregations,  schools  of  every  grade ;  native 
helpers,  not  a  few  with  the  training  of  many  years  ;  and  a 
large  acquaintance,  a  widely-extended,  long-established  influ- 
ence in  the  several  countries ;  a  name,  a  prestige,  a  character, 
a  moral  power,  not  easily  nor  soon  acquired  in  any  country, 
and  least  of  all  in  heathen  lands. 

What  would  it  cost  to  reproduce  the  means  and  agencies, 
the  results  and  influences,  which  stand  connected  with  the 
American  Board  ? 

Such  has  been  the  progress  of  facilities  for  access  to  distant 


400  THE  MISSIONS. 

parts  of  the  world,  and  for  sustaining  missions  in  them,  and 
also  the  growth  of  experience  as  to  the  mode  of  conducting 
missions,  that  the  reproducing  of  the  system  would  cost  less 
time,  money  and  labor,  now,  than  it  did  originally.  But 
would  it  not  require  thirty  years,  and  an  expenditure  of  six 
millions  ?  Then,  the  money  expended  upon  it  has  not  been 
thrown  away.  It  has  been  a  good  investment  —  more  pro- 
ductive, more  secure,  than  it  would  be  in  any  banking  institu- 
tion of  the  world.  Much  of  the  gain  is  already  deposited  in 
heaven ;  but  the  trading,  working  capital  has  a  visible,  tan- 
gible existence,  in  an  array  of  means,  instrumentalities,  facil- 
ities, opportunities  for  bringing  the  gospel  to  bear  broadly  upon 
peoples  and  nations,  upon  myriads  of  immortal  beings. 

Extending  our  view,  and  embracing  the  foreign  missions  of 
all  the  Protestant  Churches,  and  all  the  organizations,  agen- 
cies, and  influences  which  keep  them  in  vigorous  and  success- 
ful operation,  the  value  of  the  whole  is  at  once  seen  to  be 
immense.  Is  it  thirty — is  it  forty — is  it  fifty  millions  ?  Who 
is,  able  to  make  out  the  valuation  ?  It  is  a  property,  that 
is  built  upon  faith  in  the  command,  promise,  power,  and  truth- 
fulness of  Him,  who  is  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church. 
Who  ever  made  a  wiser,  more  profitable  investment  of  money, 
labor,  health,  and  even  life,  than  was  made  by  the  partners, 
living  and  dead,  in  this  glorious  enterprise  for  the  salvation 
of  the  heathen  world  ? 

It  was  evidently  the  design  of  Providence  to  develop  more 
fully  the  evil  nature  of  sin,  before  the  gospel  should  be  made 
the  common  inheritance  of  mankind.  That  has  been  accom- 
plished. The  "  Mystery  of  Iniquity,"  the  "  Man  of  Sin,"  the 
"False  Prophet," -were  to  be  revealed;  and  they  have  been. 
The  False  Prophet  has  appeared,  and  uttered  his  lies;  the 
Man  of  Sin  has  come,  and  done  as  wickedly  as  was  pre- 
dicted ;  the  Mystery  of  Iniquity  has  been  unfolded,  until 
there  is  no  longer  room  for  doubt  as  to  the  evil  and  destruc- 
tive nature  of  sin.  And  now  the  set  time  would  seem  to 
have  come  for  the  great  remedial  influences.  These  are  to  be 


THE   FIELD   AND   THE   WORK.  401 

applied  by  means  of  Christian  missions ;  and,  few  as  these  yet 
are,  they  have  been  so  diffused,  under  the  leadings  of  Provi- 
dence, that  they  have  only  to  grow,  in  order  to  cover  the  earth 
with  leaves  which  are  to  be  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
Every  man  and  woman  may  now  operate  upon  the  most  dis- 
tant nations.  The  frequent  and  urgent  calls  upon  the  benev- 
olent, result  from  the  character  impressed  upon  our  age,  and 
from  our  own  multiplied,  far-extending  relations.  The  pall 
of  death  has  been  lifted  from  the  nations ;  they  have  been 
brought  near ;  and  our  eyes  are  filled  with  the  sight,  and  our 
ears  with  the  cry,  of  their  distress.  God  has  leveled  moun- 
tains, bridged  oceans,  and  made  highways  into  every  land; 
and  now  he  speaks  to  us  with  an  emphasis  such  as  he  never 
used  in  addressing  his  people  of  former  times. 
51 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


I.    ACT  OF  INCORPORATION. 

COMMONWEALTH    OF    MASSACHUSETTS. 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  One  Thousand  Eight  Hundred  and  Twelve :  An 
Act  to  Incorporate  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions. 

Whereas  WILLIAM  BARTLET  and  others  have  been  associated  under  the 
name  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  for 
the  purpose  of  propagating  the  gospel  in  heathen  lands,  by  supporting  mis- 
sionaries and  diffusing  a  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  have  prayed 
to  be  incorporated  in  order  more  effectually  to  promote  the  laudable  object 
of  their  association,  — 

SEC.  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in 
General  Court  assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That  WILLIAM 
BARTLET,  Esq.,  and  SAMUEL  SPRING,  D.  D.,  both  of  Newburyport,  JOSEPH 
LYMAN,  D.  D.,  of  Hatfield,  JEDEDIAH  MORSE,  D.  D.,  of  Charlestown,  SAM- 
UEL WORCESTER^  D.  D.,  of  Salem,  the  Hon.  WILLIAM  PHILLIPS,  Esq.,  of 
Boston,  and  the  Hon.  JOHN  HOOKER,  Esq.,  of  Springfield,  and  their  asso- 
ciates, be,  and  they  hereby  are  incorporated  and  made  a  body  politic  by  the 
name  of  the  AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS  FOR  FOR- 
EIGN MISSIONS,  and  by  that  name  may  sue  and  be  sued,  plead  and  be 
impleaded,  appear,  prosecute,  and  defend,  to  final  judgment  and  execution  ; 
and  in  their  said  corporate  capacity,  they,  and  their  successors  forever,  may 
take,  receive,  have,  and  hold  in  fee-simple  or  otherwise,  lands,  tenements, 
and  hereditaments,  by  gift,  grant,  devise,  or  otherwise,  not  exceeding  the 
yearly  value  of  four  thousand  dollars  ;  and  may  also  take  and  hold,  by  dona- 
tion, bequest,  or  otherwise,  personal  estate  to  an  amount  the  yearly  income 
of  which  shall  not  exceed  eight  thousand  dollars  ;  so  that  the  estate  afore- 

(405) 

I 


406  APPENDIX. 

said  shall  be  faithfully  appropriated  to  the  purpose  and  object  aforesaid,  and 
not  otherwise.  And  the  said  corporation  shall  have  power  to  sell,  convey, 
exchange,  or  lease  all  or  any  part  of  their  lands,  tenements,  or  other  prop- 
erty for  the  benefit  of  their  funds,  and  may  have  a  common  seal,  which  they 
may  alter  or  renew  at  pleasure.  Provided,  however,  that  nothing  herein 
contained  shall  enable  the  said  corporation,  or  any  person  or  persons,  as 
trustees  for  or  for  the  use  of  said  corporation,  to  receive  and  hold  any  gift, 
grant,  legacy,  or  bequest,  heretofore  given  or  bequeathed  to  any  person  in 
trust  for  said  Board,  unless  such  person  or  persons  could  by  law  have  taken 
and  holden  the  same  if  this  act  had  not  passed. 

SEC.  2.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  Board  may  annually  choose 
from  among  themselves,  by  ballot,  a  President,  a  Vice  President,  and  a  Pru- 
dential Committee  ;  and  also,  from  among  themselves  or  others,  a  Corre- 
sponding Secretary,  a  Recording  Secretary,  a  Treasurer,  an  Auditor,  and 
such  other  officers  as  they  may  deem  expedient ;  all  of  whom  shall  hold 
their  offices  until  others  are  chosen  to  succeed  them,  and  shall  have  such 
powers  and  perform  such  duties  as  the  said  Board  may  order  and  direct ; 
and  in  case  of  vacancy  by  death,  resignation,  or  otherwise,  the  vacancy  may 
in  like  manner  be  filled  at  any  legal  meeting  of  the  said  Board.  And  the 
said  Treasurer  shall  give  bond,  with  sufficient  surety  or  sureties,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  Board,  or  the  Prudential  Committee,  for  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  the  duties  of  his  office. 

SEC.  3.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  contracts  and  deeds,  which  the 
said  Board  may  lawfully  make  and  execute,  signed  by  the  chairman  of  the 
said  Prudential  Committee,  and  countersigned  by  their  clerk,  (whom  they 
are  hereby  authorized  to  appoint,)  and  sealed  with  the  common  seal  of  said 
corporation,  shall  be  valid  in  law  to  all  intents  and  purposes. 

SEC.  4.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  said 
Board  shall  be  on  the  third  Wednesday  of  September  next,  at  such  place  as 
the  said  "William  Bartlet  may  appoint,  and  the  present  officers  of  said  Board 
shall  continue  in  office  until  others  are  elected. 

SEC.  5.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  Board,  at  the  first  annual 
meeting  aforesaid,  and  at  any  subsequent  annual  meeting,  may  elect,  by 
ballot,  any  suitable  persons  to  be  members  of  said  Board,  either  to  supply 
vacancies,  or  in  addition  to  their  present  number. 

SEC.  6.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  Board  shall  have  power  to 
make  such  by-laws,  rules,  and  regulations,  for  calling  future  meetings  of 
said  Board,  and  for  the  management  of  their  concerns,  as  they  shall  deem 
expedient ;  provided  the  same  are  not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  this  Com- 
monwealth. 

SEC.  7.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  one  quarter  part  of  the  annual  income 
from  the  funds  of  said  Board  shall  be  faithfully  appropriated  to  defray  the 
expense  of  imparting  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  unevangelized  nations  in  their 
own  languages :  Provided,  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  so  con- 


ACT   OF  INCOKPORATION.  407 

strued  as  to  defeat  the  express  intentions  of  any  testator  or  donor,  who  shall 
give  or  bequeath  money  to  promote  the  great  purposes  of  the  Board.  Pro- 
vided, also,  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  restrict 
said  Board  from  appropriating  more  than  one  quarter  of  said  income  to 
translating  and  distributing  the  Scriptures  whenever  they  shall  deem  it 
advisable. 

SEC.  8.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  not  less  than  one  third  of  said  Board 
shall  at  all  times  be  composed  of  respectable  laymen ;  and  that  not  less  than 
one  third  of  said  Board  shall  be  composed  of  respectable  clergymen ;  the 
remaining  third  to  be  composed  of  characters  of  the  same  description, 
whether  clergymen,  or  laymen. 

SEC.  9.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  legislature  of  this  Common- 
wealth shall  at  any  time  have  the  right  to  inspect,  by  a  committee  of  their 
own  body,  the  doings,  funds,  and  proceedings  of  the  said  Corporation,  and 
may  at  their  pleasure  alter  or  annul  any  or  all  of  the  powers  herein  granted. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  June  19,  1812.  This  bill,  having  had 
three  several  readings,  passed  to  be  enacted. 

TIMOTHY  BIGELOW,  Speaker. 

In  the  Senate,  June  20th,  1812.    This  bill,  having  had  two  readings,  passed 

to  be  enacted. 

SAMUEL  DANA,  President. 

June  20,  1812.     By  the  Governor,  Approved. 

CALEB  STRONG. 

Copy  —  Attest, 

ALDEN  BRADFORD, 

Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth. 

N.  B.  The  Associates,  alluded  to  in"  the  foregoing  act,  were  the  Hon. 
JOHN  TREADWELL,  LL.  D.,  the  Rev.  TIMOTHY  DWIGHT,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
President  of  Yale  College,  Gen.  JEDIDIAH  HUNTINGTON,  and  the  Rev. 
CALVIN  CHAPIN,  all  of  Connecticut 


408 


APPENDIX. 


II.     CORPORATE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  BOARD. 


_   (.  MAINE. 

Election. 

1832.  Enoch  Pond,  D.  D.,  Bangor. 
1838.  Benjamin  Tappan,  D.  D.,  Augusta. 

1842.  William  T.  Dwight,  D.  D.,  Portland. 

1843.  Swan  Lyman  Pomroy,  D.  D.,  Portland. 
1851.  George  F.  Patten,  Esq.,  Bath. 

1854.  John  W.  Chickering,  D.  D.,  Portland. 
1856.  George  E.  Adams,  D.  D.,  Brunswick. 

1856.  William  W.  Thomas,  Esq.,  Portland. 

1857.  Amos  D.  Lockwood,  Esq.,  Lewiston. 


NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

1832.  Nathan  Lord,  D.  D.,  Hanover. 
1840.  Zedekiah  S.  Barstow,  D.  D.,  Keene. 
1842.  Rev.  John  Woods,  Fitzwilliam. 
1842.  John  K.  Young,  D.  D.,  Laconia. 
1857.  Nathaniel  Bouton,  D.  D.,  Concord. 

1859.  Hon.  William  Haile,  Hinsdale. 

1860.  Hon.  George  W.  Neumith,  Franklin. 

VERMONT. 

1R38.  John  Wheeler,  D.  D.,  Burlington. 

1838.  Charles  Walker,  D.  D.,  Pittsford. 

1839.  Silas  Aiken,  D.  D.,  Rutland. 

1840.  Willard  Child,  D.  D.,  Castleton. 
1840.  Edward  W.  Hooker,  D.  D.,  Fairhaven. 
1842.  Hon.  Erastus  Fairbanks,  St.  Johns- 
bury. 

1842.  Benjamin  Labaree,  D.  D.,  Middlebury. 
1842.  Rev.  Joseph  Steele,  Middlebury. 
1859.  Lewis  H.  Delano,  Esq.,  Hardwick. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

1820.  William  Allen,  D.  D.,  Northampton. 
1823.  Heman  Humphrey,  D.  D.,  Pittsfleld. 

1827.  John  Tappan,  Esq.,  Boston. 

1828.  Henry  Hill,  Esq.,  Boston. 
1832.  Rufus  Anderson.  D.  D.,  Boston. 
1832.  Rev.  David  Greene,  Westboro'. 
1S32.  Charles  Stoddard,  Esq.,  Boston. 
1834.  Rev.  Sylvester  Holmes,  New  Bedford. 

1837.  Nehemiah  Adams,  D.  D.,  Boston. 

1838.  Thomas  Snell,  D.  D.,  North  Brookfleld. 
1838.  Aaron  Warner,  D.  D.,  Amherst. 
1838.  Mark  Hopkins,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Wil- 
liam stown. 

1840.  William  Jenks,  D.  D.,  Boston. 
1840.  Alfred  Ely,  D.  D.,  Monson. 
1840.  Horatio  Bardwell,  D.  D.,  Oxford. 
1840.  Ebenezer  Alden,  M.  D.,  Randolph. 


Election. 

1842.  Richard  S.  Storrs,  D.  D.,  Braintree. 
1842.  Ebenezer  Burgess,  D.  D.,  Dedham. 
1842.  John  Nelson,  D.  D.,  Leicester. 

1842.  Hon.  Samuel  Williston,  Easthampton. 

1843.  Rev.  Selah  B.  Treat,  Boston. 

1845.  Hon.  William  J.  Hubbard,  Boston. 
1845.  Henry  B.  Hooker,  D.  D.,  Boston. 
1845.  Hon.  Linus  Child,  Lowell. 

1845.  Calvin  E.  Stowe,  D.  D.,  Andover. 

1847.  Samuel  M.  Worcester,  D.  D.,  Salem. 

1848.  Andrew  W.  Porter,  Esq.,  Monson. 

1848.  Hon.  Samuel  H.  Walley,  Boston. 

1849.  Augustus  C.  Thompson,  D.  D.,  Rox- 

bury. 

1850.  Hon.  William  T.  Eustis,  Boston. 
1850.  Hon.  John  Aiken,  Andover. 

1852.  William  Ropes,  Esq.,  Boston. 

1853.  John  Todd,  D.  D.,  Pittsfield. 

1854.  Seth  Sweetser,  D.  D.,  Worcester. 

1854.  James  M.  Gordon,  Esq.,  Boston. 

1855.  Amos  Blanchard,  D.  D.,  Lowell. 
1857.  Hon.  Alpheus  Hardy,  Boston. 

1860.  Hon.  Reuben  A.  Chapman,  Springfield. 
1860.  William  S.  Southworth,  Esq.,  Lowell. 

RHODE  ISLAND. 

1846.  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  D.  D.,  Bristol. 
1850.  John  Kingsbury,  LL.  D.,  Providence. 

CONNECTICUT. 

1817.  Jeremiah  Day,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  New 
Haven. 

1832.  Noah  Porter,  D.  D.,  Farmington. 

1836.  Thomas  S.Williams,  LL.  D.,  Hartford. 

1838.  Joel  Hawes,  D.  D.,  Hartford. 

1838.  Mark  Tucker,  D.  D.,  Vernon. 

1838.  Hon.  Thomas  W.  Williams,  New  Lon- 
don. 

1838.  Hon.  Joseph  Russell,  Ellington. 

1840.  Hon.  Seth  Terry,  Hartford. 

1840.  John  T.  Norton,  Esq.,  Farmington. 

1842.  Alvan  Bond,  D.  D.,  Norwich. 

1842.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D.,  New  Haven. 

1842.  Henry  White,  Esq.,  New  Haven. 

1843.  Joel  H.  linsley,  D.  D.,  Greenwich. 
1843.  Rev.  David  L.  Ogden,  New  Haven. 
1852.  Gen.  William  Williams,  Norwich. 

1854.  Samuel  W.  S.  Dutton,  D.  D.,  New 

Haven. 

1855.  George  Kellogg,  Esq.,  Rockville. 


CORPORATE   MEMBERS   OP   THE   BOARD. 


409 


Election. 

1859.  Theodore  D.  Woolsey,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
New  Haven. 

1859.  Hon.  Wm.  A.  Buckingham,  Norwich. 

1860.  Lucius  Barbour,  Esq.,  Hartford. 
1860.  Elisha   L.    Cleaveland,   D.  D.,   New 

Haven. 
1860.  John  A.  Davenport,  Esq.,  New  Haven. 


NEW  YORK. 

Eliphalet  Nott,  D.  D.,  Schenectady. 

Lyman  Beecher,  D.  D.,  Brooklyn. 

Gardiner  Spring,  D.  D.,  New  York. 

Thomas  DeWitt,  D.  D.,  New  York. 

Nathan  S.  S.  Beman,  D.  D.,  Troy. 

Thomas  McAuley,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  New 

York. 

1834.  James  M.  Mathews,  D.  D.,  New  York. 
1838.  Isaac  Ferris,  D.  D.,  New  York. 
1838.  Thomas  H.  Skinner,  D.  D.,  New  York. 
1838.  William  W.  Chester,  Esq.,  New  York. 

1838.  Pelatiah  Perit,  Esq.,  New  York. 

1839.  William  B.  Sprague,  D.  D.,  Albany. 

1840.  Reuben  H.  Walworth,  LL.  D.,  Sara- 

toga Springs. 

1840.  Diedrich  Willers,  D.  D.,  Fayette,  Sen- 
eca County. 

1840.  Hon.  Charles  W.  Rockwell,  New  York. 

1840.  David  H.  Little,  Esq.,  Cherry  Valley. 

1840.  Charles  Mills,  Esq.,  Kingsborough. 

1842.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  D.  D.,  Leroy. 

1842.  Aristarchus  Champion,  Esq.,  Roches- 
ter. 

1842.  Hon.  William  L.  F.  Warren,  Saratoga 
Springs. 

1842.  Horace  Holden,  Esq.,  New  York. 

1842.  William  Adams,  D.  D.,  New  York. 

1842.  Joel  Parker,  D.  D.,  New  York. 

1843.  William  Wisner,  D.  D.,  Ithaca. 
1843.  Edward  Robinson,  D.  D.,  New  York. 
1843.  William  Patton,  D.  D.,  New  York. 
1843.  William  W.  Stone,  Esq.,  New  York. 

1845.  John  Forsyth,  D.  D.,  Newburgh. 

1846.  Hon.  Henry  W.  Taylor,  Canandaigua. 
1846.  James  Crocker,  Esq.,  Buffalo. 

1846.  Calvin  T.  Hulburd,  Esq.,  Brasher 
Falls. 

1848.  David  Wesson,  Esq.,  Brooklyn. 

1848.  Laurens  P.  Hickok,  D.  D.,  Schenec- 
tady. 

1848.  William  M.  Halsted,  Esq.,  New  York. 

1848.  Simeon  Benjamin,  Esq.,  Elmira. 

1850.  Robert  W.  Condit,  D.  D.,  Oswego. 

1851.  Rev.  Simeon  North,  LL.  D.,  Clinton. 

1851.  Samuel  W.  Fisher,  D.  D.,  Clinton. 

1852.  .Walter  S.  Griffith,  Esq.,  Brooklyn. 
1852.  Isaac  N.  Wyckoff,  D.  D.,  Albany. 

52 


Election. 

1852.  Hon.  William  F.  Allen,  Oswego. 

1852.  George  W.  Wood,  D.  D.,  New  York. 

1853.  Asa  D.  Smith,  D.  D.,  New  York. 
1853.  Oliver  E.  Wood,  Esq.,  New  York. 
1853.  Rev.  Montgomery  S.  Goodale,  Amster- 
dam. 

1853.  Rev.  William  S.  Curtis,  Clinton. 

1854.  Walter  Clarke,  D.  D.,  New  York. 

1854.  Ray  Palmer,  D.  D.,  Albany. 

1855.  Philemon  H.  Fowler,  D.  D.,  TJtica. 
1855.  George  B.  Cheever,  D.  D.,  New  York. 
1855.  Samuel  T.  Spear,  D.  D.,  Brooklyn. 
1855.  Jacob  M.  Schermerhorn,  Esq.,  Homer. 
1857.  William  E.  Dodge,  Esq.,  New  York. 
1860.  Jonathan  B.  Condit,  D.  D.,  Auburn. 
1860.  James  W.  McLane,  D.  D.,  Brooklyn. 
1860.  William  A.  Booth,  Esq.,  New  York. 
1860.  Simeon  B.  Chittenden,  Esq.,  Brooklyn. 


NEW  JERSEY. 

1823.  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq.,  Elizabethtown. 

1826.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  LL.  D.,  New 
Brunswick. 

ia32.  Hon.  Peter  D.  Vroom,  Trenton. 

1838.  David  Magic,  D.  D.,  Elizabethtown. 

1838.  Richard  T.  Haines,  Esq.,  Elizabeth- 
town. 

1840.  Hon.  Joseph  C.  Hornblower,  Newark. 

1840.  David  H.  Riddle,  D.  D.,  Jersey  City. 

1842.  J.  Marshal  Paul,  M.  D.,  Belvidere. 

1843.  Benjamin  C.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  Hudson. 
1848.  Abraham  B.  Hasbrouck,  LL.  D.,  New 

Brunswick. 

1848.  Hon.  Daniel  Haines,  Hamburg1. 
1853.  Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  D.  D.,  Newark. 

1855.  Rev.  Thornton  A.  Mills,  Newark. 

1856.  Lyndon  A.  Smith,  M.  D.,  Newark. 
1860.  Hon.  William  Pennington,  Newark. 


PENNSYLVANIA. 

1832.  John  McDowell,  D.  D.,  Philadelphia. 
1838.  William  R.  DeWitt,  D.  D.,  Harrisburg. 
1838.  Ambrose  White,  Esq.,  Philadelphia. 
1840.  Hon.  William  Darling,  Philadelphia. 
1840.  William  Jessup,  LL.  D.,  Montrose. 
1840.  Bernard  C.  Wolf,  D.  D.,  Easton. 
1840.  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  Philadelphia. 
1840.  J.  W.  Nevin,  D.  D.,  Mercersburg 

1842.  Harvey  Ely,  Esq.,  Erie. 

1843.  Samuel  H.  Perkins,  Esq.,Philadelphia. 
1855.  John  A.  Brown,  Esq.,  Philadelphia. 
1855.  Hon.  William  Strong,  Philadelphia. 
1855.  George  A.  Lyon,  D.  D.,  Erie. 

1857.  Matthias  W.  Baldwin,  Esq.,  Philadel- 
phia. 


410 


APPENDIX. 


Election. 

1869.  Thomas  Brainerd,  D.  D.,  Philadelphia. 

1859.  James  W.  Weir,  Esq.,  Harrisburg. 

MARYLAND. 
1838.  James  G.  Hamner,  D.  D.,  Baltimore. 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 
1842.  Rev.  John  Cross  Smith,  Washington. 

VIRGINIA. 
1826.  Gen.  John  H.Cocke,  Fluvanna  County. 

MISSOURI. 

1851.  Henry  A.  Nelson,  D.  D.,  St.  Louis. 
1857.  Truman  M.  Post,  D.  D.,  St.  Louis. 

1860.  John  B.  Johnson,  M.  D.,  St.  Louis. 

TENNESSEE. 

1842.  Samuel  Rhea,  Esq.,  Blotmtsville. 

OHIO. 

1838.  George  E.  Pierce,  D.  D.,  Hudson. 

1843.  Samuel  C.  Aiken.  D.  D.,  Cleveland. 
1851.  D.  Howe  Allen,  D.  D.,  Walnut  Hills. 
1851.  Henry  Smith,  D.  D.,  Walnut  Hills. 
1853.  Douglass  Putnam,  Esq.,  Harmar. 
1853.  Robert  W.  Steele,  Esq.,  Dayton. 
1853.  Henry  L.  Hitchcock,  D.  D.,  Hudson. 
1855.  M.  LaRue  P.  Thompson,  D.  D.,  Cin- 
cinnati. 

1857.  T.  P.  Handy,  Esq.,  Cleveland. 


MICHIGAN. 

flection. 

1838.  Eurotas  P.  Hastings,  Esq.,  Detroit. 
1851.  Harvey  D.  Kitchell,  D.  D.,  Detroit. 
1851.  Hon  Charles  Noble,  Monroe. 


INDIANA. 

1842.  Charles    White,    D.  D.,   Crawfords- 

ville. 

1851.  Hon.  Jeremiah  Sullivan,  Madison. 
1853.  Rev.  John  W.  Cunningham,  Laporte. 

ILLINOIS. 

1842.  Ansel  D.  Eddy,  D.  D.,  Wilmington. 
1845.  Baxter  Dickinson,  D.  D.,  Chicago. 
1851.  Julian  M.  Sturtevant,  D.  D.,  Jackson- 
ville. 

1851.  Rev.  Aratas  Kent,  Galena. 
1851.  Robert  W.  Patterson,  D.  D.,  Chicago. 
1851.  William  H.  Brown,  Esq.,  Chicago. 
1853.  Rev.  Augustus  T.  Norton,  Alton. 
1853.  David  A.  Smith,  Esq.,  Jacksonville. 
1853.  Rev.  William  Carter,  Pittsfleld. 
1860.  Prof.  Samuel  C.  Bartlett,  Chicago. 

IOWA. 

1851.  Rev.  John  C.  Holbrook,  Dubuque. 
1857.  Rev.  W.  Henry  Williams,  Keokuk. 

WISCONSIN. 

1840.  Rev.  Chauncey  Eddy,  Beloit. 
1851.  Aaron  L.  Chapin,  D.  D.,  Beloit. 
1851.  Eliphalet  Cramer,  Esq.,  Milwaukie. 
1860.  Rev.  Enos  J.  Montague,  Summit. 


OFFICERS   OF  THE  BOARD. 


411 


III.    OFFICERS  OF  THE  BOARD. 


PRESIDENTS.  Death  or 

Election.  Resignation 

1810.  John  Treadwell,  LL.  D.,  1823 

1823.  Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D.,  1826 

IWd.  John  Cotton  Smith,  LL.  D.,  1841 
1841.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  LL.  D.,  1857, 
1857.  Mark  Hopkins,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 


VICE  PRESIDENTS. 

1810.  Samuel  Spring-,  D.  D.,  1819. 

1819.  Joseph  Lyman,  D..  D.,  1823. 

1823.  John  Cotton  Smith,  LL.  D.,  1826. 
182G.  Stephen  Van  Renssclaer,  LL.  D.,  1839. 
1839.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  LL.D.,  1841. 
1841.  Thomas  S.  Williams,  LL.  D.,  1857. 
1857.  William  Jessup,  LL.  D. 


PRUDENTIAL  COMMITTEE. 

1810.  William  Bartlet,  Esq.,  1814. 

1810.  Samuel  Spring,  D.  D.,  1819. 

1810.  Samuel  Worcester,  D.  D.,  1821. 

1812.  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq.,  1830. 

1815.  Jedediah  Morse,  D.  D.,  1821. 

1818.  Hon.  William  Reed,  1834. 

1819.  Leonard  Woods,  D.  D.,  ia34. 
1821.  Samuel  Hubbard,  LL.  D.,  1843. 
1821.  Warren  Fay,  D.  D.,  1839. 
1828.  Benjamin  B.  Wisner,  D.  D.,  1835. 

1831.  Elias  Cornelius,  D.  D.,  1832. 

1832.  Hon.  Samuel  T.  Armstrong,         1850. 
1832.  Charles  Stoddard,  Esq. 

1834.  John  Tappan,  Esq. 

1835.  Daniel  Noyes,  Esq.,  1845. 
1837.  Nehemiah  Adams,  D.  D. 

1839.  Silas  Aiken,  D.  D.,  1849. 

1843.  William  W.  Stone,  Esq.,  1850. 

1845.  Hon.  William  J.  Hubbard,  1859. 

1849.  Augustus  C.  Thompson,  D.  D. 

1850.  Hon.  William  T.  Eustis. 

1850.  Hon.  John  Aiken. 

1851.  Hon.  Daniel  Safford,  1856. 
1854.  Henry  Hill,  Esq. 

1856.  Isaac  Ferns,  D.  D.,  1857. 

1856.  Asa  D.  Smith,  D.  D. 

1856.  Walter  S.  Griffith,  Esq. 

1857.  Alpheus  Hardy,  Esq. 

1859.  Hon.  Linus  Child. 

1860.  William  S.  Southworth,  Esq. 

CORRESPONDING  SECRETARIES. 


1810.  Samuel  Worcester,  D.  D., 
1821.  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq., 


1821. 
1831. 


1831.  Elias  Cornelius,  D.  D., 

1832.  Benjamin  B.  Wisner,  D.  D., 
1832.  Rufus  Anderson,  D.  D. 
1832.  Rev.  David  Greene, 

1835.  William  J.  Armstrong,  D.  D., 

1847.  Rev.  Selah  B.  Treat. 

1848.  Swan  L.  Pomroy,  D.  D., 
1852.  George  W.  Wood,  D.  D. 


Death  or 
Resignation. 
1832. 
1835. 


1848. 
1847. 


1859. 


ASSISTANT  CORRESPONDING  SEC- 
RETARIES. 

1824.  Rev.  Rufiis  Anderson,  1832. 

1828.  Rev.  David  Greene,  1832. 


RECORDING  SECRETARIES. 

1810.  Calvin  Chapin,  D.  D.,  1843. 

1843.  Rev.  Selah  B.  Treat,  1847. 

1847.  Samuel  M.  Worcester,  D.  D. 


ASSISTANT  RECORDING  SECRETA- 
RIES. 

1836.  Charles  Stoddard,  Esq., 
1839.  Bela  B.  Edwards,  D.  D., 
1842.  Rev.  Daniel  Crosby, 


TREASURERS. 

1810.  Samuel  H.  Walley,  Esq.,  1811. 

1811.  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq.,  1822. 
1822.  Henry  Hill,  Esq.,  1854. 
1854.  James  M.  Gordon,  Esq. 


AUDITORS. 

1810.  Joshua  Goodale,  Esq.,  1812. 

1812.  Samuel  H.  Walley,  Esq.,  1813. 

1813.  Charles  Walley,  Esq.,  1814. 

1814.  Chester  Adams,  Esq.,  1817. 
1817.  Ashur  Adams,  Esq.,  1822. 
1822.  Chester  Adams,  Esq.,  1827. 
1827.  William  Ropes,  Esq.,  1829. 
1829.  John  Tappan,  Esq.,  1834. 
1829.  Charles  Stoddard,  Esq.,  1832. 
1832.  Hon.  William  J.  Hubbard,  1842. 

1834.  Daniel  Noyes,  Esq.,  1835. 

1835.  Charles  Scudder,  Esq.,  1847. 
1842.  Moses  L.  Hale,  Esq. 

1847.  Hon.  Samuel  H.  Walley. 


412 


APPENDIX. 


IV.   CORPORATE  MEMBERS  DECEASED  OR  RESIGNED. 


[The  names  under  each  State  are  arranged  according  to  the  time  of  decease  or  resignation.    The  year  is 

that  ending  with  the  annual  meetings  in  September  or  October.) 

MAINE.                   Death  or 

Death  or 

Election.                                                      Resignation. 

Election.                                                      Resignation. 

1813.  Jesse  Appleton,  D.  D.,                   1820. 

1826.  John  Codman,  D.  D.,                      1848. 

1826.  Edward  Payson,  D.  D.,                  1828. 

1832.  Hon.  Samuel  T.  Armstrong,         1850. 

1842.  David  Dunlap,                                  1843. 

1826.  Hon.  Lews  Strong,  r.,                   1852. 

1813.  Gen.  Henry  Sewall,                        1845. 

1835.  Daniel  Noyes,                                  1852. 

1842.  William  Richardson,                       1847. 

1839.  Bela  B.  Edwards,  D.  D.,                 1852. 

1842.  Eliphalet  Gillett,  D.  D.,                  1849. 

1842.  Hon.  Alfred  D.  Foster,                   1852. 

1836.  Levi  Cutter,                                      1856. 

1826.  Justin  Edwards,  D.  D.,                  1853. 

1845.  Asa  Cummings,  D.  D.,                    1856. 

1819.  Leonard  Woods,  D.  D.,                  1854- 

1838.  John  W.  Ellingwood,  D.  D.,         1860. 

1821.  Joshua  Bates,  D.  D.,                       1854. 

1840.  Hon.  David  Mack,                           1854. 

1851.  Hon.  Daniel  Safford,                       1856. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

1840.  Daniel  Dana,  D.  D.,                         1859. 

1812.  John  Langdon,  LL.  D.,                   1820. 

1812.  Seth  Payson,  D.  D.,                        1820. 
1820.  Hon.  Thomas  W.  Thompson,        1822. 

RHODE  ISLAND. 

1830.  Hon.  George  Sullivan,                   1838. 

1812.  William  Jones,  Esq. 

1820.  John  Hubbard  Church,  D.  D.,       1840. 

1842.  Hon.  Mills  Olcott,                           1845. 

1842.  Rev.  Archibald  Burgess,                1850. 

CONNECTICUT. 

1840.  Hon.  Edmund  Parker,                    1856. 

1810.  Timothy  Dwight,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  1817. 

1838.  Samuel  Fletcher,                             1859. 

1810.  Gen.  Jedidiah  Huntington,            1819. 

1810.  John  Treadwell,  LL.  D.,                1823. 

1836.  Henry  Hudson,                               1843. 

VERMONT. 

1819.  John  Cotton  Smith,  LL.  D.,          1846. 

1818.  Hon.  Charles  Marsh,                      1849. 

1842.  Rev.  Thomas  Punderson,              1848. 

1840.  William  Page,  Esq.,                       1850. 

1840.  Daniel  Dow,  D.  D.,                         1849. 

1810.  Calvin  Chapin,  D.  D.,                     1851. 

1848.  Nathaniel  O.  Kellogg,                    1854. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

1823.  Bennet  Tyler,  D.  D.,                       1858. 

1810.  Samuel  H.  Walley,  r.,                   1811. 

1851.  Charles  J.  Stedman,                        1859. 

1810.  Samuel  Spring,  D.  D.,                     1819. 

1830.  Roger  Minot  Sherman,  r.,             1830. 

1810.  Samuel  Worcester,  D.  D.,               1821. 

1842.  Chauncey  A.  Goodrich,  D.  D.,       1860. 

1818.  Zephaniah  Swift  Moore,  D.  D.,     1823. 

1852.  Abel  McEwen,  D.  D.,                     1860. 

1811.  Jedediah  Morse,  D.  D.,                  1826. 

1812.  Hon.  William  Phillips,                   1827. 

NEW  YORK. 

1810.  Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D.,                     1888. 

1823.  Edward  A.  Newton,  r.,                  1828. 

1818.  Col.  Henry  Linclean,                      1822. 

J812.  Hon.  John  Hooker,                         1829. 

1819.  Divie  Bethune,                                 1825. 

1812.  Jeremiah  Evarts,                             1831. 

1812.  John  Jay,  LL.  D.,                           1829. 

1822.  Samuel  Austin,  D.  D.,                    1831. 

1824.  Col.  Henry  Rutgers,                       1830. 

1831.  Elias  Cornelius,  D.  D.,                   1832. 

1826.  Col.  Richard  Varick,                       1831. 

1828.  Benjamin  B.  Wisner,  D.  D.,           1835. 

1812.  Egbert  Benson,  LL.  D.,                 1833. 

1818.  Hon.  William  Reed,                       1837. 

1822.  Jonas  Platt,  LL.  D.,                       1834. 

1831.  Warren  Fay,  D.  D.,  r.,                   1&39. 

1826.  William  McMurray,  D.  D.             1836. 

1810.  William  Bartlet,                              1841. 

1826.  John  Nitchie,                                   1838. 

1842.  Rev.  Daniel  Crosby,                       1843. 

1816.  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  LL.  D.,  1839. 

1821.  Samuel  Hubbard,  LL.  D.,              1848. 

1824.  Eleazar  Lord,  r.,                            1841. 

CORPORATE  MEMBERS   DECEASED   OR  RESIGNED. 


413 


De 

ith  or 

Election.                                                      EesiQ 

nation. 

1832.  Zechariah  Lewis, 

1841. 

1840.  Gerrit  Wendell, 

1841. 

1812.  James  Richards,  D.  D., 

1843. 

1813.  Alexander  Proudflt,  D.  D., 

1843. 

1832.  OrrinDay, 

1847. 

1835.  William  J.  Armstrong,  D.  D., 

1847. 

1843.  Walter  Hubbell, 

1848. 

1843.  Asa  T.  Hopkins,  D.  D., 

1848. 

ia38.  Henry  White,  D.  D., 

1850. 

1842.  John  W.  Adams,  D.  D., 

1850. 

1824.  David  Porter,  D  D., 

1851. 

1838.  D.  W.  C.  Olyphant,  r., 

1851. 

1839.  Eliphalet  Wickes, 

1851. 

1848.  Erskine  Mason,  D.  D., 

1851. 

1812.  Henry  Davis,  D.  D., 

1852. 

1826.  Nathaniel  W.  Howell,  LL.  D., 

1852. 

1824.  Philip  Milledoler,  D.  D., 

1853. 

1838.  Elisha  Yale,  D.  D., 

1853. 

1840.  Anson  G.  Phelps, 

1854. 

1840.  Hiram  H.  Seelye, 

1855. 

1836.  Rev.  Henry  Dwight, 

1857. 

1842.  Charles  M.  Lee,  LL.  D., 

1857. 

1854.  Auson  G.  Phelps,  Jr., 

1858. 

NEW  JERSEY. 

1812.  Elias  Boudinot,  LL.  D., 

1822. 

1823.  Edward  Dorr  Griffin,  D.  D., 

1838. 

1812.  Samuel  Miller,  D.  D.,  r., 

1839. 

1826.  James  Carnahan,  D.  D.,  r., 

1849. 

1826.  Archibald  Alexander,  D.  D.,  r., 

1850. 

1855.  F.  T.  Frelinghuysen,  r., 

1859. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

1812.  Robert  Ralston, 

1836. 

1812.  Ashbel  Green,  D.  D.,  r., 

1840. 

1834.  Alexander  Henry, 

1847. 

1826.  Samuel  Agnew,  M.  D., 

1850. 

1832.  Cornelius  C.  Cuyler,  D.  D., 

1850. 

1826.  Thomas  Bradford, 

1852. 

1838.  Matthew  Brown,  D.  D., 

1853. 

1842.  Eliphalet  W.  Gilbert,  D.  D., 

1853. 

1838.  Thomas  Fleming, 

1855. 

1826.  John  Ludlow,  D.  D., 

1857. 

1848.  Charles  S.  Wurts,  r., 

1858. 

1835.  William  S.  Plumer,  D.  D.,  r., 

1859. 

1826.  William  Neill,  D.  D., 

1860. 

MARYLAND. 

1834.  William  Nevins,  D.  D., 

1836. 

4k  Death  or 

Election.  Resignation. 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 


1819.  Elias  Boudinot  Caldwell, 
1826.  Joseph  Nourse, 

VIRGINIA. 

1823.  John  H.  Rice,  D.  D., 
1832.  George  A.  Baxter,  D  D., 
1826.  William  Maxwell, 
1834.  Thomas  P.  Atkinson,  r., 


1834.  Joseph  Caldwell,  D.  D., 
1834.  W.  McPheters,  D.  D., 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

1826.  Moses  Waddell,  D.  D., 
1826.  Benjamin  M.  Palmer,  D.  D., 

1839.  Reuben  Post,  D.  D  ,  r., 

GEORGIA. 

1826.  John  Cummings,  M.  D., 
1834.  Thomas  Golding,  D.  D., 
1834.  Hon.  Joseph  H.  Lumpkin. 

TENNESSEE. 

1826.  Charles  Coffin,  D.  D. 
1834.  Isaac  Anderson,  D.  D. 

ILLINOIS. 
1821.  Gideon  Blackburn,  D.  D., 

INDIANA. 

1838.  Flihu  W.  Baldwin,  D.  D., 
1853.  Samuel  Merrill, 

OHIO. 

1832.  James  Hoge,  D.  D.,  r., 
1826.  Robert  G.  Wilson,  D.  D., 
1834.  Robert  H.  Bishop,  D.  D., 
1851.  Gabriel  Tichenor, 
1845.  Rev.  Harvey  Coe, 

MISSOURI. 

1840.  Artemas  Bullard,  D.  D., 


1825. 
1841. 


1831. 
1841. 

1857. 
1859. 


1835. 
1843. 


1840. 
1848. 
1855. 


1838 
1848. 


1839. 


1841. 
1855. 


1847. 
1856. 
1855. 
1855. 
1860. 


1856. 


414  APPENDIX. 


V.  MISSIONARIES  AND  ASSISTANT  MISSIONARIES 
SENT  FORTH  BY  THE  AMERICAN  BOARD  OF 
COMMISSIONERS  FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

[Pages  208  and  273.] 

NOT  a  few  of  those  mentioned  in  the  following  list,  have  been  connected 
with  two  or  more  of  the  missions,  and  their  names  are  of  course  repeated. 
Hence  an  enumeration  from  this  catalogue  would  not  correspond  with  the 
table  referred  to  in  the  body  of  the  work.  The  true  number  is  there  indi- 
cated. The  star  (  *  )  denotes  the  decease  of  the  missionary.  The  letter  r. 
means  that  the  individual  is  not  now  in  connection  with  the  Board.  The 
occasion  of  these  discharges,  in  the  missions  beyond  sea,  has  generally  been 
a  failure  of  health  in  the  wife  or  husband.  In  the  missions  among  the 
North  American  Indians,  —  thgse  missions  being  peculiar  in  their  nature, 
and  near  home,  —  the  connection  of  laymen,  as  farmers,  mechanics,  or 
teachers,  has  been  less  permanent  than  in  the  remoter  missions,  ^.nd  not 
unfrequently  has  been  entered  upon  for  a  specified  time.  This  was  specially 
true  in  respect  to  unmarried  females,  a  great  number  of  whom  have  been 
employed  in  the  Indian  missions.  The  list  is  intended  to  contain  all  such, 
and  only  such,  as  actually  received  from  the  Prudential  Committee  the  ap- 
pointment as  assistant  missionary ;  but  perfect  accuracy  here  is  a  matter 
of  some  difficulty. 

Among  those  connected  with  the  missions  beyond  sea,  where  death  has 
occurred  since  their  connection  with  the  Board  was  dissolved,  the  fact,  when 
known,  is  denoted  by  r.*  A  considerable  number  of  deaths  among  those 
formerly  connected  with  the  Indian  missions,  may  have  escaped  notice. 

WESTERN  AFRICA. 

CAPE  PALMAS,  AFTERWARD  GABOON,  MISSION. 

r.  J.  Leighton  Wilson, r.  Mrs.  Jane  E.  "Wilson. 

*  David  White, *   Mrs.  Helen  M.  White. 

*  Alexander   E.  Wilson,  M.  D.,  —  from   *   Mrs.  Mary  H.  Wilson,  —  afterward  Mrs. 

the  Zulu  Mission, Griswold. 

William  Walker, *   Mrs.  Prudence  E.  Walker. 

*   Mrs.  Zerviah  L.  Walker. 
Mrs.  Catharine  H.  Walker. 

*  Benjamin  Griswold, *   Mrs.  Mary  H.  Griswold. 

*  John  M.  Campbell. 

Albert  Bushnell, *   Mrs.  Lydia  A.  Bushnell. 

Mrs.  Lucina  J.  Bushnell. 

Ira  M.  Preston, Mrs.  Jane  S.  Preston. 

r.  William  T.  Wheeler. 

Jacob  Best, Mrs.  Gertrude  Best. 


MISSIONARIES   AND  ASSISTANT  MISSIONARIES.  415 

*  Rollin  Porter, *   Mrs.  Nancy  A.  Porter.  • 

Epaminondas  J.  Pierce, ' .  .  .  *   Mrs.  Susan  Pierce. 

*  Hubert  P.  Herrick, r.  Mrs.  Julia  Herrick. 

*  Henry  M.  Adams. 

r.  Andrew  D.  Jack, r.  Mrs.  Mercy  E.  Jack. 

r.  Morris  L.  St.  John,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  St.  John. 

r  Walter  H.  Clark. 

Missionary  Physician. 

*  Henry  A.  Ford,  M.  D r.  Mrs.  Olivia  Ford. 

Assistant  Missionaries, 
r.  Benjamin  V.  James,  —  now  at  Liberia.      r.  Mrs.  Margaret  E.  James. 

r.  Miss    Olivia    Smith,  —  afterward    Mrs. 

Ford. 
Miss  Jane  A.  Van  Allen. 


SOUTH  AFRICA. 

ZULU  MISSION. 

*  George  Champion, *   Mrs.  Susan  Champion. 

Aldin  Grout, *   Mrs.  Hannah  Grout. 

Mrs.  Charlotte  Grout. 

Daniel  Lindley, Mrs.  Lucy  Lindley. 

»•.  Henry  I.  Venable, r.  Mrs.  Martha  A.  Venable. 

*  Alexander  E.Wilson,—  see  West  Africa,  *    Mrs.  Mary  J.  Wilson. 

*  Newton  ^.dams,  M.  D.,     r.  Mrs.  Sarah  C.  Adams. 

*  James  C.  Bryant,     r.  Mrs.  Dolly  F.  Bryant. 

Lewis  Grout, Mrs.  Lydia  Grout. 

Silas  McKinney, Mrs.  Fanny  M.  McKinney. 

*  Samuel  D.  Marsh, r  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Marsh. 

David  Rood, Mrs.  Alzina*V.  Rood. 

William  Ireland, Mrs.  Jane  Ireland. 

Andrew  Abraham Mrs.  Sarah  L.  Abraham. 

Hyman  A.  Wilder, Mrs.  Abby  T.  Wilder. 

Josiah  Tyler, Mrs.  Susan  W.  Tyler. 

r.  Jacob  L.  Dolme, r.  Mrs.  Caroline  Dohne. 

Seth  B.  Stone, Mrs.  Catharine  M.  Stone. 

.  William  Jlellen, Mrs.  Laurana  W.  Mellen. 

Stephen  C.  Pixley, Mrs.  Louisa  Pixley. 

Elijah  Robbins, Mrs.  Adaline  Robbins. 

Henry  M.  Bridgman Mrs.  Laura  B.  Bridgman. 

Assistant  Missionaries, 
r.  J.  Q.  A.  Butler, r.  Mrs.  Anna  S.  Butler. 


EUROPE. 

MISSION  TO  GREECE. 

Jonas  King,  D.  D., Mrs.  Anna  A.  King. 

Elias  Riggs,—  see  N.  Arm.  Miss Mrs.  Martha  J.  Riggs. 

r.  Ssonuel  R.  Houston, r.  Mrs.  Mary  R.  Houston. 

*   Nathan  Benjamin,  —  see  N.  Arm.  Miss.,  r.  Mrs.  Mary  G.  Benjamin. 

r.  George  W.  Leyburn, r.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Leyburn. 


416  APPENDIX. 

WESTERN  ASIA. 

MISSION  TO  CYPRUS. 

*  Lorenzo  W.  Pease, r.  Mrs  Lucinda  Pease. 

r.  James  L.  Thompson. 

Daniel  Ladd,  —  see  N.  Arm.  Miss.,  .  .  .        Mrs.  Charlotte  H.  Ladd. 

MISSION  TO  THE  JEWS. 

*  Eliphal  Maynard, r.  Mrs.  Celestia  A.  Maynard. 

Wm.  G.  Schauffler,  —  see  N.  Arm.  Miss.,  Mrs.  Mary  R.  Schauffler. 

Edward  M.  Dodd,  —  see  N.  Arm.  Miss.,  Mrs.  Lydia  H.  Dodd. 

Justin  W.  Parsons,  —  see  N.  Arm.  Miss.,  Mrs.  Catharine  Parsons. 

Homer  B.  Morgan,—  see  S.  Arm.  Miss.,  *   Mrs.  Harriett  G.  Morgan. 

NORTHERN  ARMENIAN  MISSION.f 

*  Daniel  Temple, *   Mrs.  Rachel  B.  Temple. 

r.*   Mrs.  Martha  Temple. 

William  Goodell,  D.  D., Mrs.  Abigail  P.  Goodell. 

r.  Josiah  Brewer. 

*  Elnathan  Gridley. 

Harrison  G.  O.  Dwight,  D.  D., *  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Dwight. 

*  Mrs.  Mary  Dwight. 

William  G.  Schauffler,  D.  D .   .  Mrs.  Mary  R.  Schauffler. 

Elias  Riggs,  D.  D., Mrs.  Martha  J.  Riggs.          , 

r.  Thomas  P.  Johnston, r.  Mrs.  Marianne  C.  Johnston. 

r.  John  B.  Adger, r.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  K.  Adger. 

r.  Henry  A.  Homes, r.  Mrs.  Anna  W.  Homes. 

*  Nathan  Benjamin, r.  Mrs  Mary  G.  Benjamin. 

Daniel  Ladd, Mrs.  Charlotte  H.  Ladd. 

r.  William  C.  Jackson, r.  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Jackson. 

r.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  D.  D.,  —  at  Constantino- 
ple,   *   Mrs.  Henrietta  A.  L.  Hamlin. 

*  Mrs.  Harriet  M.  Hamlin. 
r.  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Hamlin. 

Henry  J.  Van  Lennep, *   Mrs.  Emma  L.  Van  Lennep. 

*  Mrs.  Mary  Van  Lennep.          • 
Mrs.  Emily  A.  Van  Lennep. 

Geo.  W.  Wood,  D.  D.,— now  Cor.  Sec.,  *    Mrs.  Martha  B.  Wood. 

Edwin  E.  Bliss, Mrs.  Isabella  H.  Bliss. 

*  Joel  S.  Everett, *   Mrs.  Seraphina  Everett. 

Josiah  Peabody, Mrs.  Mary  L.  Pcabody. 

r,  Isaac  G.  Bliss,—  at  Constantinople,    .  .  r.  Mrs.  Eunice  B.  Bliss. 

Edward  M.  Dodd, Mrs.  Lydia  H.  Dodd. 

Justin  W.  Parsons Mrs.  Catharine  Parsons. 

Oliver  Crane, Mrs.  Marion  D.  Crane. 

r.  George  W.  Dunmore, r.  Mrs.  Susan  Dunmore. 

*  Joseph  W.  Sutphen, Mrs.  Susan  H.Sutphen,— now  Mrs.  Mor- 

gan. . 

Wilson  A.  Farnsworth, Mrs.  Caroline  E.  Farnsworth. 

r.  William  Clark, r.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Clark. 

Jasper  N.  Ball, Mrs.  Caroline  W.  Ball. 

t  The  former  division  of  the  missions  is  retained,  as  more  convenient  in  this  catalogue  of  the  missionaries. 


MISSIONAEIES   AND   ASSISTANT  MISSIONARIES.  417 

Sanford  Richardson, Mrs.  Rhoda  A.  Richardson. 

r.  Edwin  Goodell, r.  Mrs.  Catharine  J.  Goodell. 

r.  Benjamin  Parsons, r.  Mrs.  Sarah  W.  Parsons. 

r.  Alexander  R.  Plumer, r.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  B.  Plumer. 

Ira  F.  Pettibone. 

Orson  P.  Allen, Mrs.  Caroline  R.  Allen. 

George  A.  Pollard, Mrs.  Mary  H.  Pollard. 

Tillman  C.  Trowbridge, Mrs.  Margaret  Trowbridge. 

Crosby  H.  Wheeler, Mrs.  Susan  A.  Wheeler. 

Charles  F.  Morse, Mrs.  Eliza  D.  Morse. 

Oliver  W.  Winchester, Mrs.  Janette  S.  Winchester. 

Theodore  L.  Byington, Mrs.  Esther  Byington. 

r.  William  Hutchison, r.  Mrs.  Foresta  G.  Hutchison. 

William  W.  MiTiam, Mrs.  Susan  Meriam. 

Joseph  K.  Greene, Mrs.  Elizabeth  A.  Greene. 

James  F.  Clarke, Mrs.  Isabella  G.  Clarke. 

Herman  N.  Barnum, Mrs.  Mary  Barman. 

George  F.  Herrick. 

William  F.  Arms, *   Mrs.  Emily  Arms. 

William  W.  Livingston, Mrs.  Martha  E.  Livingston. 

Missionary  Physicians. 

r.  Fayette  Jewett,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Jewett. 

Henry  S.  West,  M.  D., Mrs.  Lottie  M.  West. 

Treasurer  of  the  Mission. 
George  Washburn, .  .  .  < Mrs.  Henrietta  Washburn. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  II oman  Hallock. r.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hallock. 

*   Miss  Harriet  M.Lovell,— afterward  Mrs. 

Hamlin. 

Miss  Maria  A.  West. 
r.  Miss  Melvina  Haynes. 
r.  Miss  Mary  E.  Tenney, — now  Mrs.  Ham- 
lin. 
Miss  Sarah  E.  West. 

SOUTHERN  ARMENIAN  MISSION. 

Benjamin  Schneider,  D.  D., *   Mrs.  Eliza  C.  Schneider. 

Mrs.  Susan  M.  Schneider. 

Philander  O.  Powers, *    Mrs.  Harriet  Powers. 

Mrs.  Sarah  L.  Powers. 

*   Azariah  Smith,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Corinth  J.  Smith. 

Homer  B.  Morgan, Mrs.  Susan  H.  3Iorgan. 

Andrew  T.  Pratt,  M.  D., Mrs.  Sarah  F.  Pratt. 

George  B.  Nutting *    Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Nutting. 

Mrs.  Susan  A.  Nutting. 

r.  Alfred  G.  Beebe, *   Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Beebe. 

r.  George  A.  Perkins, — at  Constantinople,   r.  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Perkins. 

Jackson  G.  Coffing Mrs.  Josephine  Coffing. 

George  H.  White, Mrs.  Joanna  White. 

Alvin  B.  Goodale,  M.  D., Mrs.  Mary  E.  Goodale. 

Zeuus  Goss. 

Assistant  Missionary. 

Miss  Myra  A.  Proctor. 

53 


418  APPENDIX. 

SYRIA  MISSION. 

*  Pliny  Fisk. 

*  Levi  Parsons. 

Jonas  King,  —  see  Mission  to  Greece. 

r.  Isaac  Bird, r.  Mrs.  Ann  Bird. 

William  Goodell,—  see  N.  Arm.  Miss., .        Mrs.  Abigail  P.  Goodell. 

*  Eli  Smith,  D.  D. *   Mrs.  Sarah  L.  Smith. 

*  Mrs.  Maria  W.  Smith. 

r.  Mrs.  Henrietta  S.  Smith. 

*  George  B.  Whiting, r.  Mrs.  Matilda  S.  Whiting. 

William  M.  Thomson,  D.  D., *    Mrs.  Eliza  X.  Thomson. 

Mrs.  Thomson. 

*  Story  Hebard, *   Mrs.  Rebecca  W.  Hebard. 

r.  John  F.  Lannean, r.  Mrs.  Julia  H.  Lanneau. 

r.  Elias  R.  Beadle, r.*  Mrs.  Hannah  Beadle. 

r.  Charles  S.  Sherman, r.  Mrs.  Martha  E.  Sherman. 

r.  Samuel  Wolcott, *   Mrs.  Catherine  E.  Wolcott. 

r.*  Nathaniel  A.  Keyes, r.*  Mrs.  Mary  Keyes. 

r.  Leander  Thompson, r,  Mrs.  Anne  E.  Thompson. 

Cornelius  V.  A.  Van  Dyck,  M.  D.,  .  .  .        Mrs.  Julia  Van  Dyck. 

Simeon  H .  Calhoun, Mrs.  Emily  P.  Calhoun. 

r.  William  A.  Benton, r.  Mrs.  Loanza  Benton. 

J.  Edwards  Ford, Mrs.  Mary  Ford. 

r.  David  M.  Wilson, r.  Mrs.  EmeUne  Wilson.' 

r.  Horace  Foote, *    Mrs.  Roxana  Foote. 

William  W.  Eddy, Mrs.  Hannah  M.  Eddy. 

William  Bird, Mrs.  Sarah  F.  Bird. 

J.  Lorenzo  Lyons, Mrs.  Catherine  N.  Lyons. 

r.  Edward  Aiken, *    Mrs.  Susan  D.  Aiken. 

r.  Mrs.  Sarah  Aiken. 

Daniel  Bliss, Mrs.  Abby  M.  Bliss. 

Henry  H.  Jessup, Mrs.  Caroline  Jessup. 

Missionary  Physicians. 

*  Asa  Dodge,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Martha  W.  Dodge. 

*  Henry  A.  DeForest,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Catharine  T.  DeForest. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

George  C.  Hurter, Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hurter. 

*  Miss  Rebecca  W.  Williams,  —  afterward 

Mrs.  Hebard. 
r.  Miss  Betsey  Tilden. 

*  Miss  Anna  L.  Whittlesey. 

r.  Miss  Sarah  Cheney,  —  now  Mrs.  Aiken. 
r.  Miss  Jane  E.  Johnson. 

Mis's  Amelia  C.  Temple. 

Miss  Adelaide  L.  Mason. 

ASSYRIAN  MISSION. 

William  F.  Williams, *   Mrs.  Sarah  Williams. 

*  Mrs.  Harriet  B.  Williams. 
Dwight  W.  Marsh, *   Mrs.  Julia  W.  Marsh. 

*  Henry  Lobdell,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Lucy  C.  Lobdell. 

Augustus  Walker, Mrs.  Eliza  M.  Walker. 

George  C.  Knapp, Mrs.  Alzina  M.  Knapp. 

Lysander  T.  Burbank, Mrs.  Sarah  S.  Burbank. 


MISSIONARIES   AND   ASSISTANT   MISSIONARIES.  419 

Missionary  Physicians. 

David  H.  Nutting,  M.  D., Mrs.  Mary  E.  Nutting. 

Henri  B.  Haskell, Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Haskell. 

NESTORIAN   MISSION. 
Justin  Perkins,  D.  D., Mrs.  Charlotte  Perkins. 


Albert  L.  Holladay,    .  .  . 
William  R.  Stocking, .  .  , 

Willard  Jones, 

Austin  H.  Wright,  M.  D., 
Abel  K.  Hiusdale,    .  .  . 
Colby  C.  Mitchell,    .  .  .  . 


>•.  Thotnas  Laurie, 


David  T.  Stoddard, 


Mrs.  Anne  Y.  Holladay. 
Mrs.  Jerusha  E.  Stocking. 
Mrs.  Miriam  Jones. 
Mrs.  Catherine  A.  Wright. 
*  Mrs.  Sarah  C.  Hinsdale. 
Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Mitchell. 
Mrs.  Martha  F.  Laurie. 
Mrs.  Harriet  Stoddard. 


r.  Mrs.  Sophia  D.  Stoddard. 

Joseph  G.  Cochran, Mrs.  Deborah  W.  Cochran. 

George  W.  Coan, Mrs.  Sarah  Coan. 

Samuel  A.  Rhea, *   Mrs.  Martha  A.  Rhea. 

Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Bhea.       .    . 

*  Edwin  H.  Crane, r.  Mrs.  Ann  E.  Crane. 

Thomas  L.  Ambrose. 

John  H.  Shedd, Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Shedd. 

*  Amherst  L.  Thompson, Mrs.  Esther  E.  Thompson. 

Benjamin  Labaree,  Jr., Mrs.  Elizabeth  E.  Labaree. 

Henry  N.  Cobb, Mrs.  Matilda  E.  Cobb. 

Missionary  Physicians. 

*  Asahel  Grant,  M.  D., *   Mrs.  Judith  S.  Grant. 

Frank  N.  H.  Young,  M.  D. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

Edward  Breath, Mrs.  Sarah  Ann  Breath. 

Miss  Fidelia  Fisk. 

Miss  Mary  S.  Rice. 

Miss  Catherine  A.  Myers, — now  Mrs. 

Wright. 
*   Miss  Martha  A.Harris, — afterward  Mrs. 

Rhea. 

Miss  Aura  J.  Beach. 
Miss  Harriet  N.  Crawford. 

MISSION  TO  PERSIA. 
r.  James  L.  Merrick, r.  Mrs.  Emma  Merrick. 

SOUTHERN  ASIA. 

r*  Adoniram  Judson,  D.  D., r.*  Mrs.  Ann  H.  Judson. 

r.*  Luther  Rice. 

MAHRATTA  MISSION. 

*  Gordon  Hall, r.  Mrs.  Margaret  Hall. 

*  Samuel  Newell, *   Mrs.  Harriet  Newell. 

r.  Mrs.  Philomela  Newell, — afterward  Mrs. 

Garrett. 
r.  Samuel  Nott, r.  Mrs.  Nott. 


420  APPENDIX. 

r.  Horatio  Bardwell, r.  3Irs.  Rachel  Bardwell. 

*  John  Nichols, r.*  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Nichols, — afterward  Sirs. 

Woodward,  Ceylon. 

*  Allen  Graves, Mrs.  Mary  Graves. 

*  Edmund  Frost, *   Mrs.  Clarissa  Frost, —  afterward  Mrs. 

Woodward,  Ceylon,  and  Mrs.  Todd, 
Madura, 
r.  David  O.  Allen,  D.  D., *   Mrs.  Myra  Allen. 

*  Mrs.  Orpah  Allen. 

*  Mrs.  Azuba  C.  Allen,  —  formerly  Miss 

Condit,  Borneo  Mission. 

r.  Cyrus  Stone, *   Mrs.  Atossa  Stone. 

r.  Mrs.  Abigail  H.  Stone. 

*  William  Hervey, *    Mrs.  Elizabeth  H.  Hervey. 

r.  William  Ramsey, *   Mrs.  Mary  Ramsey. 

r.  Hollis  Read, r.  Mrs.  Caroline  Read. 

r.  George  W.  Boggs, r.  Mrs.  Isabella  W.  Boggs. 

Sendol  B.  Munger, *   Mrs.  Maria  L.  Munger. 

*  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Munger. 

Amos  Abbott, Mrs.  Anstice  Abbott. 

Henry  Ballantine, Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ballautine. 

r.  Ebenezer  Burgess, *   Mrs.  Mary  Burgess. 

•  *    Mrs.  Abigail  Burgess. 
r.  Ozro  French, r.  Mrs.  Jane  French. 

*  Robert  W.  Hume, r.  Mrs.  Hannah  D.  Hume. 

r.  Royal  G.  Wilder, r.  Mrs.  Eliza  J.  Wilder. 

Samuel  B.  Fail-bank, *   Mrs.  Abbie  Fairbank. 

Mrs.  Mary  Fairbank. 
William  Wood, *   Mrs.  Lucy  M.  Wood. 

*  Mrs.  Eliza  M.  Wood. 
r.  George  Bowen. 

Allen  Hazen, Mrs.  Martha  R.  Hazen. 

Lemuel  Bissell, Mrs.  Mary  E.  Bissell. 

William  P.  Barker, Mrs.  Lucelia  U.  Barker. 

Samuel  C.  Dean, Mrs.  Elizabeth  A.  Dean. 

Charles  Harding, Mrs.  Julia  M.  Harding. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

*  James  Garrett, r.*  Mrs.  Philomela  Garrett,  —  formerly  Mrs. 

Newell. 

*  William  C.  Sampson r.  Mrs.  Mary  L.  Sampson. 

r.  George  W.  Hubbard, r.  Mrs.  Emma  Hubbard. 

r.  Elijah  A.  Webster, r.  Mrs.  Mariette  Webster. 

Miss  Cynthia  Farrar. 

CEYLON  MISSION. 
• 

*  James  Richards, r.*  Mrs.  Sarah  Richards,  —  afterward  Mrs. 

Knight,  Church  Mission. 

*  Edward  Warren. 

Benjamin  C.  Meigs, Mrs.  Sarah  M.  Meigs. 

*  Daniel  Poor,  D.  D., *   Mrs.  Susan  Poor. 

r*  Mrs.  Ann  Poor. 

Levi  Spaulding, Mrs.  Mary  Spaulding. 

Myron  Winslow, — see  Madras,    ....    *   Mrs.  Harriett  W.  Winslow. 

*  Henry  Woodward, *   Mrs.  Lydia  Woodward. 

*  Mrs.  Clarissa  Woodward. 

*  George  H.  Apthorp, *   Mrs.  Mary  Apthorp. 


MISSIONAEIES   AND   ASSISTANT  MISSIONARIES.  421 

r.*  Henry  R.  Hoisington, r.  Mrs.  Nancy  Hoisington. 

r.  Samuel  Hatchings, r.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  C.  Hutchings. 

r.  James  R.  Eckard, r.  Mrs.  Margaret  E.  Eckard. 

*  Nathan  Ward,  M.D., Mrs.  Hannah  W.  Ward. 

*  John  M.  S.  Perry, *   Mrs.  Harriet  J.  Perry. 

*  Samuel  G.  Whittlesey, r.  Mrs.  Anna  C.  Whittlesey. 

John  C.  Smith, *  Mrs.  Eunice  P.  Smith. 

Mrs.     Mary    Smith,  —  formerly    Mrs. 
Steele,  Madura. 

*  Robert  Wyman, r.  Mrs.  Martha  Wyman. 

r.  Adin  H.  Fletcher, r.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Fletcher. 

Wm.  W.  Howland, Mrs.  Susan  Howland. 

r.  William  W.  Scudder, *  Mrs.  Catherine  E.  Scudder. 

Eurotas  P.  Hastings, Mrs.  Anna  Hastings. 

r.  Cyrus  T.  Mills, —  see  Sandwich  Islands,  r.  Mrs.  Susan  L.  Mills. 

Marshall  D.  Sanders, Mrs.  Georgians  Sanders. 

Nathan  L.  Lord,  M.  D., Mrs.  Laura  W.  Lord. 

r.  Milan  Hitchcock, r.  Mrs.  Lucy  A.  Hitchcock. 

James  Quick, Mrs.  Maria  E.  Quick. 

James  A.  Bates Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Bates. 

Missionary  Physician. 
Samuel  F.  Green,  M.  D. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  Eastman  S.  Minor, *   Mrs.  Lucy  Minor. 

r.  Mrs.  Judith  M.  Minor. 

Miss  Eliza  Agnew. 
r.  Miss  Sarah  F.  Brown. 

MADURA  MISSION. 

r.  William  Todd, *   Mrs.  Lucy  Todd. 

*  Mrs.  Clarissa  Todd. 

r.  Alanson  C.  Hall, *    Mrs.  Frances  A.  Hall. 

*  John  J.  Lawrence, r.  Mrs.  Mary  Lawrence. 

*  Robert  O.  Dwight, *   Mrs.   Mary  Dwight,  —  afterward   Mrs. 

Winslow. 
r.  Henry  Cherry, *   Mrs.  Charlotte  H.  Cherry. 

*  Mrs.  Jane  E.  Cherry. 
r.  ,I»Irs.  Henrietta  Cherry. 

r.  Edward  Cope, r.  Mrs.  Emily  Cope. 

r.  Nathaniel  M.  Crane, r.  Mrs.  Julia  A.  J.  Crane. 

Clarendon  F.  Muzzy, *   Mrs.  Samantha  B.  Muzzy. 

Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Muzzy. 

William  Tracy, Mrs.  Emily  F.  Tracy. 

r.  Ferdinand  DeW.  Ward, r.  Mrs.  Jane  Ward. 

Horace  S.  Taylor, Mrs.  Martha  E.  Taylor. 

James  Herrick, Mrs.  Elizabeth  H.  Herrick. 

Edward  Webb, Mrs.  Nancy  A.  Webb. 

John  Kendall, Mrs.  Jane  Rendall. 

r.  Geo.  W.  McMillan, r.  Mrs.  Rebecca  N.  McMillan. 

John  E.  Chandler, Mrs.  Charlotte  M.  Chandler, 

r.  George  Ford, r.  Mrs.  Ann  J.  Ford. 

r.  Charles  Little, *   Mrs.  Amelia  Little. 

r.  Mrs.  Susan  Little. 

Joseph  T.  Noyes, Mrs.  Elizabeth  A.  Noyes. 

Thomas  S.  Burnell, Mrs.  Martha  Burnell. 

William  B.  Capron, Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Capron. 


422  APPENDIX. 

Charles  T.  White, .  Mrs.  Anna  31.  White. 

Edward  Chester, Mrs.  Sophia  Chester. 

George  T.  Washburn, Mrs.  Eliza  E.  Washburn. 

David  C.  Scudder, Mrs.  Harriet  L.  Scudder. 

Missionary  Physicians. 

*  John  Steele,  M.  D., Mrs.  Mary  Steele. 

r.  Charles  S.  Shelton,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Henrietta  M.  Shelton. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  Alfred  North, — from  Singapore *   Mrs.  Minerva  North. 

«  Miss  Sarah  W.  Ashley. 

MADRAS  MISSION. 

Myron  Winslow,D.D.,— see  Ceylon, .  .   *   Mrs.  Catherine  Winslow. 

*   Mrs.  Ann  Winslow. 
i  *   Mrs.  Mary  Winslow. 

Mrs.  Ellen  A.  Winslow. 

*  John  Scudder,  M.  D., *   Mrs.  Harriet  Scudder. 

r.  Henry  M.  Scudder,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Fanny  Scudder. 

r.  John  W.  Dulles, r.  Mrs.  Harriet  L.  Dulles. 

v.  Isaac  N.  Hurd, *   Mrs.  Mary  C.  Hurd. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 
I'hinehas  B.  Hunt, Mrs.  Abigail  Hunt. 

ARCOT  MISSION. 

r.  Henry  M.  Scudder,  M.  D.,— from  Madras,  r.  Mrs.  Fanny  Scudder. 

r.  William  W.  Scndder,  —  from  Ceylon,  .  .    *    Mrs.  Elizabeth  O.  Scudder. 

r.  Joseph  Scudder, r.  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Scudder. 

r.  Ezekiel  C.  Scudder, r.  Mrs.  Sarah  R.  Scudder. 

r,  Jared  W.  Scudder, r.  Mrs.  Julia  C.  Scudder. 

Assistant  Missionary. 

r.  Miss  Louisa  Scudder. 

EASTERN  ASIA. 

CANTON  MISSION. 

Elijah  C.  Bridgman,  D.  D.,— see  Shanghai,       Mrs.  Eliza  J.  Bridgman. 

*  David  Abeel,  D.  D., —  see  Amoy. 

*  Edwin  Stevens. 

r.  Peter  Parker,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Parker. 

Dyer  Ball,  M.  D.,— from  Singapore,  .  .    *   Mrs.  Lucy  H.  Ball. 

Mrs.  Isabella  Ball. 

*  James  G.  Bridgman. 

Samuel  W.  Bonney, Mrs.  Catherine  Bonney. 

*  William  A.  Macy,  —  see  Shanghai. 

Daniel  Vrooman, *   Mrs.  Elizabeth  C.  Vrooman. 

Mrs.  Maria  W.  Vrooman. 

*  Frederick  H.  Brewster, r.  Mrs.  Mary  G.  Brewster. 

Missionary  Physician. 
r.  William  B.  Diver,  M.  D. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 
r.  S.  Wells  Williams,  LL.  D., r.  Mrs.  Williams. 


MISSIONARIES   AND   ASSISTANT   MISSIONARIES.  423 

AMOY  MISSION. 

*  David  Abeel,  D.  D. 

r.  Elihu  Doty,—  from  Borneo, *    Mrs.  Clarissa  D.  Doty. 

r.  Mrs.  Eleanor  A.  Doty. 

*  William  J.Pohlman,— from  Borneo, .  .    *    Mrs.  Theodosia  R.  Pohlman. 
r.  John  Van  Nest  Talmage, r.  Mrs.  Abby  F.  Talmage. 

r.  John  S.  Joralman r.  Mrs.  Martha  C.  Joralman. 

FUHCHAU  MISSION. 

r.  Stephen  Johnson,  —  from  Siam r.  Mrs.  Caroline  M.  Johnson. 

Lyman  B.  Peet,  —  from  Siam, *   Mrs.  Rebecca  C.  Peet. 

Mrs.  H.  L.  Peet. 

*  Seneca  Cummings, r.  Mrs.  Abigail  M.  CummingB. 

Caleb  C.  Baldwin, Mrs.  Harriet  Baldwin. 

*  William  L.  Richards. 

Justus  Doolittle, *   Mrs.  Sophia  A.  Doolittle. 

Mrs.  Lucy  E.  Doolittle. 

Charles  Hartwell, Mrs.  Lucy  E.  Hartwell. 

Simeon  F.  Woodin, Mrs.  Sarah  L.  Woodin. 

SHANGHAI  MISSION. 

Elijah  C.  Bridgman,  D.  D.,— from  Canton,       Mrs.  Eliza  J.  Bridgman. 
Henry  Blodget, Mrs.  Sarah  F.  Blodget. 

*  William  Aitchison. 

*  William  A.  Macy,  —  from  Canton. 

MISSION  TO   SIAM. 

*  David  Abeel,  D.  D.,  —  see  Amoy. 

*  Charles  Robinson, r.  Mrs.  Maria  Robinson. 

r.  Stephen  Johnson, —  see  Fuhchau,    ...    *   Mrs.  Maria  Johnson. 

*  Mrs.  Mary  Johnson. 
r.  Dan  B.  Bradley,  M.  D., *    Mrs.  Emilie  Bradley. 

r.  Samuel  P.  Robbins, r.  Mrs.  Martha  R.  Robbins. 

*  Nathan  S.  Benham, r.  Mrs.  Maria  N.  Benham. 

r*  Jesse  Caswell, r.  Mrs.  Anna  T.  Caswell. 

*  Henry  S.  G.  French, r.  Mrs.  Sarah  C.  French. 

r.  Asa  Hemenway, r.  Mrs.  Lucia  Hemenway. 

L.  B.  Peet,— see  Fuhchau, *    Mrs.  Rebecca  C.  Peet. 

Missionary  Physician. 

r.  Stephen  Tracy,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Alice  Tracy. 

Assistant  Missionary. 

*  Miss  Mary  E.  Pierce. 

SINGAPORE  MISSION. 

r.  Ira  Tracy,    .  .  .i r.*  Mrs.  Adeline  Tracy. 

r.  James  T.  Dickinson. 
r.*  Matthew  B.  Hope,  M.  D. 

r.  Joseph  S.  Travelli, r.*  Mrs.  Susan  Travelli. 

Dyer  Ball,  M.  D.,  —  see  Canton,    ....   *   Mrs.  Lucy  H.  Ball. 
.  George  W.  Wood,  —  see  N.  Armenian 

Miss., '. *   Mrs.  Martha  M.  Wood. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 
r.  Alfred  North,  — see  Madura, *   Mrs.  Minerva  North. 


424  APPENDIX. 

MISSION   TO  THE  INDIAN   ARCHIPELAGO. 

*  Samuel  Munsou, '  r.  Mrs.  Abigail  Munson. 

*  Henry  Lyman, r.  Mrs.  Eliza  Lyman. 

r.  William  Arms, *   Mrs.  Mary  Arms. 

MISSION   TO   BORNEO, 
r.  Elihn  Doty,— see  Amoy *   Mrs.  Clarissa  D.  Doty. 


r.  Jacob  Ennis, 
r.  Elbert  Kevins,  .... 
r.*  William  Youngblood,    , 
*   Frederick  B.  Thomson, 


*   William  J.  Pohlman,  —  see  Amoy, .  .  . 


.  Mrs.  Henrietta  B.  Ennis. 
Mrs.  Maria  L.  Kevins. 
Mrs.  Josephine  Youngblood. 
Mrs.  Catharine  Thomson. 
Mrs.  Emma  Thomson. 
Sirs.  Theodosia  R.  Pohlman. 


r.  William  T.  Van  Doren, r.  Mrs.  Jane  A.  Van  Doren. 

*  Isaac  P.  Stryker. 
r.  William  H.  Steele. 

Assistant  Missionary. 

*  Miss  Azuba  C.  Condit,  —  afterward  Mrs. 
Allen,  Bombay. 

NORTH  PACIFIC  OCEAN. 

SANDWICH  ISLANDS  MISSION. 

r.  Hiram  Bingham, *   Mrs.  Sybil  Bingham. 

r.  Asa  Thurston, — at  the  Islands,    ....   r.  Mrs.  Lucy  Thurston. 

*  Samuel  Whitney, r.  Mrs.  Mercy  Whitney. 

r.  Artemas  Bishop,  —  at  the  Islands,  ...»    Mrs.  Elizabeth  Bishop. 

r.  Mrs.  Delia  Bishop, 
r.*  William  Richards, — died  at  the  Islands,   r.  Mrs.  Clarissa  Richards. 

r.  Charles  S.  Stewart, r*  Mrs.  Harriet  B.  Stewart. 

r.  James  Ely, r.  Mrs.  Louisa  Ely. 

r.  Joseph  Goodrich, r.  Mrs.  Goodrich. 

»  T.*  Lorrin  Andrews,  —  died  at  the  Islands,   r.  Mrs.  Andrews. 
r.  Ephraim  W.  Clark,  — at  the  Islands, .  .   *   Mrs.  Mary  Clark. 

Mrs.  Sarah  H.  Clark. 

r.  Jonathan  S.  Green,  —  at  the  Islands, .  .  r.*  Mrs.  Theodosia  Green. 
r.  Peter  J.  Gulick,  —  at  the  Islands,  .  .  .  Mrs.  Fanny  H.  Gulick. 
r.  Dwight  Baldwin,  M.  D., — at  the  Islands,  Mrs.  Charlotte  Baldwin. 

*  Sheldon  Dibble, *   Mrs.  Maria  M.  Dibble. 

r.  Mrs.  Antoinette  Dibble. 

r.*  Reuben  Tinker, r.  Mrs.  Mary  T.  Tinker. 

r.  William  P.  Alexander,  —  at  the  Islands,  r.  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Alexander. 
r.*  Richard  Armstrong,  D.  D., — died  at  the 

Islands, r.  Mrs.  Clarissa  Armstrong,— atthe  Islands. 

r.  John  S.  Emerson,  —  at  the  Islands, .  .  .  r.  Mrs.  Ursula  S.  Emerson. 

r.  Cochran  Forbes, r.  Mrs.  Rebecca  D.  Forbes. 

*  Harvey  R.  Hitchcock, r.  Mrs.  Rebecca  Hitchcock, — atthe  Islands. 

r.  David  B.  Lyman.  —  at  the  Islands,  .  .  .  r.  Mrs.  Sarah  Lyman. 

r.  Lorenzo  Lyons,  —  at  the  Islands, .  ...    *   Mrs,  Betsey  Lyons. 

r.  Mrs.  Lucia  G.  Lyons. 

*  Ephraim  Spaulding, r.  Mrs.  Julia  Spaulding. 

r.  Benjamin  W.  Parker,  —  at  the  Islands,    r.  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Parker, 
r.  Lowell  Smith,  — at  the  Islands,    .  .  .  .   r.  Mrs.  Abba  W.  Smith, 
r.  Titus  Coan,  —  at  the  Islands, r.  Mrs.  Fidelia  Coan. 

r.  Isaac  Bliss, r.  Mrs.  Emily  Bliss. 

r.  Daniel  T.  Conde, *   Mrs.  Andelusia  Conde. 

r.  Mark  Ives, r.  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Ives. 


MISSIONAEIES   AND   ASSISTANT   MISSIONARIES.  425 

r.*  Thomas  Lafon,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Sophia  L.  Lafon. 

r.  EdwardJohnson,  —  at  the  Islands, .  .  .  r.  Mrs.  Lois  S.  Johnson, 

r.  Daniel  Dole,  —  at  the  Islands, *    Mrs.  Emily  H.  Dole. 

r.  Mrs.    Charlotte   Dole,  —  formerly  Mrs. 
Knapp. 

r.  Elias  Bond,  —  at  the  Islands, r.  Mrs.  Ellen  M.  Bond. 

r.  James  W.  Smith,  M.  D.,— at  the  Islands,  r.  Mrs.  Mellicent  K.  Smith, 

r.  John  D.  Paris,  —  at  the  Islands,   ....  *    Mrs.  Mary  Paris. 

r.  Mrs.  Mary  Paris. 

r.  George  B.  Rowell,  —  at  the  Islands,   .  .  ?•.  Mrs.  Malvina  J.  Rowell. 

r.  Asa  B.  Smith, r.  Mrs.  Sarah  G.  Smith. 

r.  Eliphalet  Whittlesey, r.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  K.  Whittlesey. 

r.  T.  Dwight  Hunt, r.  Mrs.  Mary  Hunt. 

r.  John  F.  Pogue,  —  at  the  Islands, .  .  .  .  r.  Mrs.  Maria  K.  Pogue. 

r.  Claudius  B.  Andrews,  —  at  the  Islands,  r.  Mrs.  Anna  S.  Andrews. 
r.  Samuel  G.  Dwight. 

*  Henry  Kinney, r.  Mrs.  Maria  L.  Kinney. 

r.  William  C.  Shipmaii,  —  at  the  Islands,  r.  Mrs.  Jane  Shipman. 

r.  William  O.  Baldwin, r.  Mrs.  Mary  Baldwin. 

r.  Anderson  O.  Forbes,  —  at  the  Islands,  r.  Mrs.  Forbes. 

r.  Cyrus  T.  Mills,  —  from  Ceylon ;  at  the 

Islands, r.  Mrs.  Susan  L.  Mills. 

Missionary  Physicians. 

r.*  Thomas  Holman,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Lucia  Holman. 

r.  Abraham  Blatchley,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Jemima  Blatchley. 

r.  Gerritt  P.  Judd,  M.  D.,  —  at  the  Islands,  r.  Mrs.  Laura  Judd. 

r.  Alonzo  Chapin,  M.D., r.  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Chapin. 

•i.  r.  Seth  L.  Andrews,  M.  D., *    Mrs.  Parnelly  Andrews. 

r.  Charles  H.  Wetmore,  M.  D.,  —  at  the 

Islands, r.  Mrs.  Lucy  S.  Wetmore. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  Daniel  Chamberlain, r.  Mrs.  Chamberlain. 

r.  Samuel  Ruggles, r.  Mrs.  Nancy  Ruggles. 

r.*  Elisha  Loomis, r.  Mrs.  Maria  T.  Loomis. 

*  Levi  Chamberlain, r.  Mrs.  Maria  Chamberlain,—  atthe Islands. 

*  Stephen  Shepard, r.  Mrs.  Margaret  C.  Shepard. 

r.*  Andrew  Johnstone,—  died  at  the  Islands,   r.  Mrs.  Johnstone. 

*  Edmund  H.  Rogers, *   Mrs.  Mary  Rogers. 

*    Mrs.  Elizabeth  M.  Rogers. 
r.  Lemuel  Fuller. 

r.  Henry  Dimond,  —  at  the  Islands, .  .  .  .    r.  Mrs.  Ann  Maria  Dimond. 
r.  Edwin  O.  Hall,  — at  the  Islands, .  .  .  .   r.  Mrs.  Sarah  L.  Hall, 
r.  Edward  Bailey,  —  at  the  Islands, .  .  .  .   r.  Mrs.  Caroline  Bailey. 
r.  Samuel  N.  Castle,  —  at  the  Islands, .  .  .    *   Mrs.  Angeline  L.  Castle. 

r.  Mrs.  Mary  Castle. 
r.  Amos  S.  Cooke,  —  at  the  Islands, .  .  .  .   r.  Mrs.  Juliette  Cooke. , 

*  Horton  O.  Kuapp, r.  Mrs.  Charlotte  Knapp,— now  Mrs.  Dole. 

*  Edwin  Locke,  —  at  the  Islands, *    Mrs.  Martha  L.  Locke. 

*  Charles  McDonald,  —  died  at  the  Islands,    r.  Mrs.  Harriet  T.  McDonald. 
r.  Bethuel  Munn,  . " *    Mrs.  Louisa  Munn. 

r.  William  S.  Van  Duzee, r.  Mrs.  Oral  Van  Duzce. 

r.  Abner  Wilcox,  —  at  the  Islands,   ....   r.  Mrs.  Lucy  E.  Wilcox. 

r.  Miss  Maria  Ogclen,  — at  the  Islands. 

r.  Miss  Lydia  Brown,  —  at  the  Islands. 

r.  Miss  Marcia  M.  Smith. 

r.  William  H.  Rice,  — at  the  Islands, .  .  .    r.  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Rice. 
r  William  A.  Spooner,  —  at  the  Islands, .  .   r.  Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Spooner. 

54 


426  APPENDIX. 

MICRONESIA  MISSION. 

Benjamin  G.  Snow, Mrs.  Lydia  V.  Snow. 

Luther  H.  Gulick,  M.  D., Mrs.  Louisa  Gulick. 

Albert  A.  Sturges, Mrs.  Susan  M.  Sturges. 

Edward  T.  Doane, Mrs.  Sarah  W.  Doane. 

George  Pierson,  M.  D., Mrs.  Nancy  A.  Picrson. 

Hirain  Binghain,  Jr., Mrs.  Minerva  C.  Bingliam. 

Ephraim  P.  Roberts, Mrs.  Myra  H.  Roberts. 

SOUTH  AMERICA. 

EXPLORING  MISSIONS. 
r.  John  C.  Brigham. 
r.  Theophilus  Parvin. 

r.  William  Arms, —  see  Indian  Archipelago. 
r.  Titus  Coan, —  see  Sandwich  Islands. 


Patagonia. 


NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

CHEROKEE   MISSION. 

r.  Cyrus  Kingsbury,  D.  D.,-see  Choctaws,  *   Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Kingsbury. 

r.  Loring  S.  Williams,  —  see  Choctaws, .  .  r.  Mrs.  Matilda  Williams. 

*  Daniel  S.  Buttrick, *    Mrs.  Elizabeth  Buttrick. 

*  Ard  Hoyt, r.  Mrs.  Esther  Hoyt. 

r.  William  Chamberlain, r.  Mrs.  Flora  Chamberlaiii. 

*  Alfred  Finney, *   Mrs.  Susanna  Finney. 

r.*  Cephas  Washburn, r.  Mrs.  Abigail  Washburn. 

r.*  Elizur  Butler, *   Mrs.  Esther  Butler. 

r.  Mrs.  Lucy  Butler. 
r.  William  Potter,    .  .  .- r.  Mrs.  Laura  Potter. 

*  Samuel  A.  Worcester,  D.  D., *    Mrs.  Ann  Worcester. 

Mrs.  Ermiuia  Worcester. 

r.  Marcus  Palmer,  M.  D *   Mrs.  Clarissa  Palmer. 

r.  Mrs.  Jerusha  Palmer. 
r.  John  Thompson, r.  Mrs.  Ruth  B.  Thompson. 

*  Jesse  Lockwood, r.  Mrs.  Cassandra  Lockwood. 

Worcester  Willey, *    Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Willey. 

Mrs.  Annie  S.  Willey. 

Timothy  E.  Ranney, Mrs.  Charlotte  Ranney. 

r.  Edwin  Teele, r.  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Teele. 

r.  Horace  A.  Wentz. 

Charles  C.  Torrey, Mrs.  Adelaide  L.  Torrey. 

Missionary  Physicians. 

r.*  Roderick  L.  Dodge,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Emeline  Dodge. 

r.  George  L.  Weed,  M.  D.,  —  see  Creeks. 


Assistant  Missionaries. 


r.  Moody  Hall,  .  , 
r.  Abijah  Conger, , 
r.  John  Vail,  .  .  , 
r.  John  Talmage,  . 
r.  James  Orr,  .  .  , 


Mrs.  Isabella  Hall. 
Mrs.  Conger. 
Mrs.  Julia  Vail. 
Mrs.  Talmage. 
Mrs.  Minerva  Orr. 
Mrs.  Julia  F.  Orr. 
Mrs.  Nancy  Hitchcock. 


r.  Jacob  Hitchcock, 

*   Daniel  Hitchcock. 
r*  John  C.  Ellsworth, r.  Mrs.  Eliza  Ellsworth. 


MISSIONARIES   AND   ASSISTANT   MISSIONARIES.  427 

r.  Henry  Parker, r,  Mrs.  Philena  Parker. 

*  Erastus  Dean, *   Mrs.  Sarah  Dean. 

r.  Sylvester  Ellis, r.  Mrs.  Sarah  Ellis. 

r.  Ainsworth  E.  Blunt, r.  Mrs.  Harriet  Blunt. 

r.  Isaac  Proctor, r.  Mrs.  Fanny  Proctor. 

r.  Frederic  Ellsworth, r.  Mrs.  Ellsworth. 

r.  William  Holland, r.  Mrs.  Electa  Holland. 

r.  Josiah  Hemmingway. 

r.  Asa  Hitchcock *   Mrs.  Sophronia  Hitchcock. 

r.  Mrs.  Lucy  Hitchcock. 

r.  Samuel  Wisner, *   Mrs.  Judith  Wisner. 

r.  Samuel  Newton, *   Mrs.  Mary  H.  Newton. 

r.  Mrs.  Newton,  — formerly  Mrs.  Joslyn. 
r.  William  H.  Manwaring. 

r.  Fenner  Bos  worth, r.  Mrs.  Bosworth. 

r.  Luke  Fernal, *   Mrs.  Joanna  Fernal. 

r.  Kellogg  Day, r.  Mrs.  Mary  L.  Day. 

*  Aaron  Gray. 

r.  John  F.  Wheeler, r.  Mrs.  Wheeler. 

r.  Henry  K.  Copeland,  —  see  Choctaws, .  .   r.  Mrs.  Abigail  W.  Copeland. 

*  Miss  Ellen  Stetson. 
r.  Miss  Sophia  Sawyer. 

*  Miss  Cynthia  Thrall. 
r.  Miss  Lucy  Hutchinson. 
r.  Miss  Delight  Sargent. 
T.  Miss  Nancy  Thompson. 
r.  Miss  Hannah  Kelly. 

r.  Miss  Catharine  Fuller. 
T.  Miss  Flora  Post. 
r.  Miss  Esther  Smith. 
r.  Miss  Sarah  A.  Palmer. 
r.  Miss  Theresa  M.  Bissell. 
r.*  Miss  Mary  A.  Avery. 
r.  Miss  Hannah  Moore. 
r.  Miss  Eliza  Giddings. 
r.  Miss  Julia  S.  Hitchcock. 
T.  Miss  Jerusha  E.  Swain. 
r.  Miss  Lois  W.  Hall. 
r.  Miss  Julia  F.  Stone, — see  Mrs.  Orr. 
T-  Miss  M.  E.  Denny. 
r.  Miss  Lucina  H.  Lord. 
r.  Miss  Harriet  A.  Sheldon. 
r.  Miss  Elizabeth  T.  Hancock. 
r.  Miss  Mary  R.  Spooner. 

Miss  S.  Elizabeth  Kenney. 

Miss  Sarah  Dean. 

CHOCTAW  MISSION. 

r.  Cyrus  Kingsbury,D.D.,— in  the  Mission,  *   Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Kingsbury. 

Mrs.  Electa  Kingsbury. 


r.  Loring  S.  Williams, 

r.  Joel  Wood, 

*  Alfred  Wright, 

r.  Cyrus  Byington,  —  in  the  Mission, .  . 
*.  Samuel  Moseley, 

*  Harrison  Allen, 

r.  Henry  R.  Wilson, 


Mrs.  Matilda  Williams. 
Mrs.  Clarissa  H.  Wood. 
Mrs.  Harriet  Wright. 
Mrs.  Sophia  Byington. 
Mrs.  Sarah  Moseley. 
Mrs.  Nancy  Allen. 
Mrs.  Sarah  Wilson. 


428  APPENDIX. 

r.  John  R.  Agnew. 

r.  Ebenezer  Hotchkin,  —  in  the  Mission,    .  r.  Mrs.  Philena  Hotchkin. 

r.  Charles  C.  Copcland,  —  in  the  Mission, .  r.  Mrs.  Cornelia  Copeland. 

r.  Joshua  Potter, —  see  Senecas, r.  Mrs.  Jane  Potter. 

r.  John  C.  Strong, r.  Mrs.  Celia  S.  Strong. 

r.  Oliver  P.  Stark, — in  the  Mission,    ...  *    Mrs.  Margaret  W.  Stark. 

r.  Mrs.  Harriet  Stark. 

r.  John  Edwards,  —  in  the  Mission,     .  .  .  r.  Mrs.  Rosanna  H.  Edwards. 
r.  George  Pterson,  M.  D.,  —  afterward  at 

Micronesia, *   Mrs.  Salome  Pierson. 

r.  Simon  L.  Hobbs,  M.  D.,— in  the  Mission,  r.  Mrs.  Mary  C.  Hobbs. 

r.  Elias  L.  Boing, r.  Mrs.  Anna  M.  Boing. 

Missionary  Physician, 
r.  William  W.  Pride,  M.  D., r.  Mrs.  Hannah  Pride. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

*  Aries  V.  Williams, *   Mrs.  Judith  Williams. 

r.  Peter  Kanouse. 

r.  Moses  Jewell, r.  Mrs.  Jewell. 

r.  John  G.  Kanouse, r.  Mrs.  Kanouse. 

*  Isaac  Fisk. 

r.  Anson  Dyer, *   Mrs.  Dyer. 

r.  Zechariah  Howes, r.  Mrs.  Lucy  Howes. 

r.  John  Smith, r.  Mrs.  Smith. 

r.  Calvin  Cushman, r.  Mrs.  Laura  Cushman. 

r.  Elijah  Bardwell, r.  Mrs.  Lavina  Bardwell. 

*  William  Hooper, *   Mrs.  Vina  Hooper. 

r.  Mrs.  Eliza  Hooper. 

r.  David  Remington, V.  Mrs.  Esther  Remington. 

r.  Philo  P.  Stewart, r.  Mrs.  Eliza  Stewart. 

r.  Stephen  B.  Macomber, r.  Mrs.  Macomber. 

r.  Anson  Gleason, —  see  Senecas, r.  Mrs.  Bethiah  W.  Gleason. 

r.  David  Wright, *    Mrs.  Lucinda  Wright. 

r.  Ebenezer  Bliss. 

r.  David  Gage, r.  Mrs.  Betsey  Gage. 

r.  Samuel  Moulton, r.  Mrs.  Lucinda  Moulton. 

r.  Elijah  S.  Town, r.  Mrs.  Hannah  E.  Town. 

r.  John  Dudley. 

*  Matthias  Joslyn, r.  Mrs.  Sophia  M.Joslyn, — afterward  Mrs. 

Newton,  of  Cherokee  Mission. 
r.  Abner  D.  Jones, r.  Mrs.  Eunice  G.  Jones. 

*  Jared  Olmstead, r.  Mrs.  Julia  S.  Olmstead. 

r.  Peter  Auten, .   r.  Mrs.  Lydia  Auten. 

r*  Miss  Anna  Burnham. 
r.  Miss  Eliza  R.  Buer. 
r.  Miss  Pamela  Skinner. 
r.  Miss  Nancy  Foster. 
r.  Miss  Eunice  Clough. 
r.  Miss  Louisa  M.  Williams. 
r.  Miss  Elizabeth  A.  MerrilL 
r.  Henry  K.  Copeland,  —  from  Cherokees,  r.  Mrs.  Abigail  H.  Copeland. 

*  Mrs.  Nancy  Barnes. 
r.  Miss  Sarah  Kerr. 
r.  Miss  Harriet  Arms. 
r.  Miss  Susan  Tracy. 

*  Miss  Harriet  E.  Crosby. 
r*  David  H.  Winship, r.  Mrs.  Winship. 


MISSIONARIES   AND   ASSISTANT  MISSIONARIES.  429 

r.  Lewis  Bissell, *   Mrs.  Mary  Bissell. 

*  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Bissell. 

r.  Edwin  Lathrop, r.  Mrs.  Cornelia  P.  C.  Lathrop. 

r.  Miss  Cornelia  F.  C.  Dolbear, —  see  Mrs. 
Lathrop. 

*  Miss  Catharine  Belden. 

*  Miss  Lucinda  Downer. 
r.  Miss  Lydia  S.  Hall. 

r.  Miss  Laura  E.  Tilton. 
r.  Miss  Harriet  N.  Keyes. 
r.  Miss  Catharine  A.  Fay. 
r.  Miss  Marcia  Colton. 

*  Miss  Harriet  Goulding. 
r.  Miss  Caroline  Dickinson. 
r.  Miss  Juliette  Slate. 

r.  Miss  Hannah  Bennett. 

r.  Miss  Mary  A.  Root. 
r.  David  Breed, *   Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Breed. 

r.  Miss  Jerusha  Edwards. 

r.  Miss  Caroline  A.  Fox. 

r.  Mrs.  Ann  B.  Dana. 

r.  Miss  Elizabeth  J.  Hough. 

r.  Miss  Angelina  Hosmer. 

r.  Miss  Eunice  Starr. 
r.  Horace  D.  Smith. 

r.  John  A.  Beals. 

r.  Miss  Maria  P.  Arms. 

r.  Miss    Harriet    McCormick, — see    Mrs. 
Stark. 

r.  Miss  Chloe  M.  Bigelow. 

r.  Jason  D.  Chamberlain, •  r.  Mrs.  Elsey  G.  Chamberlain. 

r.  Abraham  G.  Lansing, r.  Mrs.  Sarah  M.  Lansing. 

r.  Samuel  T.  Libby,  —  in  the  Mission,     .  .   r.  Mrs.  Hannah  E.  Libby. 

r.  Miss  Priscilla  G.  Child,— in  the  Mission. 

r.  Miss  Mercy  Whitcomb. 

r.  Miss  Elizabeth  Backus. 

r.  Miss  Mary  M.  Curtis. 

*  Miss  Laura  M.  Aiken. 
r.  Harvey  R.  Schermerhorn. 

r.  Miss  Frances  W.  Sawyer. 

r.  Miss  Helen  E.  Woodward. 

r.  Miss   Hannah    E.    Pruden,  —  see    Mrs. 

Libby. 

r.  Miss  Harriet  A.  Dada. 
r.  Miss  Charity  A.  Gaston. 
r.  Miss  Lucy  E.  Lovell,  —  in  the  Mission. 
r.  Miss  Mary  W.  Lovell. 
r.  Miss  Mary  Ann  Greenlee, — in  the  Miss. 
r.  Miss  Mary  J.  Semple,— in  the  Mission. 
r.  Miss  Eliza  C.  Kendall,— in  the  Mission. 

DAKOTA  MISSION. 

Thomas  S.  Williamson, Mrs.  Margaret  Williamson. 

r.  Jedediah  D.  Stevens r.  Mrs.  Julia  Stevens. 

•  Stephen  R.  Riggs, Mrs.  Mary  A.  C.  Riggs. 

r.  Samuel  W.  Pond, *   Mrs.  Cordelia  Pond. 

r.  Mrs.  Rebecca  Pond. 


430  APPENDIX. 

.  Gideon  H.  Pond, *   Mrs.  Sarah  Pond. 

Robert  Hopkins, r.  Mrs.  Agnes  C.  Hopkins. 

.  Moses  N.  Adams, r.  Mrs.  Nancy  A.  M.  Adams. 

.  John  F.  Alton, r.  Mrs.  Nancy  Aiton. 

.  Joseph  W.  Hancock, *   Mrs.  Martha  M.  Hancock. 

r.  Mrs.  Sarah  Hancock. 

%  Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  Alexander  G.  Huggins, r.  Mrs.  Lydia  Huggins. 

r.  Miss  Lucy  C.  Stevens. 

r.  Jonas  Pettijohn, r.  Mrs.  Fanny  Pettijohn. 

Hugh  D.  Cunningham, Mrs.  Mary  B.  Cunningham. 

Miss  Jane  S.  Williamson. 
r.  Miss    Sarah   Rankiu,  —  afterward   Mrs. 

Hancock. 

r.  Miss  Lucy  Spooner. 
r.  Miss  Mary  R.  Spooner,  —  see  Cherokees. 
Mrs.  Anna  B.  Ackley. 

OJIBWA  MISSION. 

r.  Sherman  Hall, r.  Mrs.  Betsey  Hall. 

r.  William  T.  Boutwell, r.  Mrs.  Hester  Boutwell. 

r.  Frederick  Ayer, r.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ayer. 

Leonard  H.  Wheeler, Mrs.  Harriet  Wheeler. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  Edmund  F.  Ely, r.  Mrs.  Catharine  Ely. 

r.  Joseph  Town, r.  Mrs.  Hannah  Town. 

r.  John  L.  Seymour, r.  Mrs.  Jane  B.  Seymour. 

T.  Greenville  T.  Sproat r.  Mrs.  Florantha  Sproat. 

r.  Miss  Delia  Cooke. 
r.  Miss  Sabrina  Stevens. 

r.  Woodbridge  L.  James, r.  Mrs.  Phebe  G.  James. 

r.  Miss  Abigail  Spooner. 

r.*  Charles  Pulsifer, r.  Mrs.  Hannah  H.  Pulsifer. 

r.  D.  Irenseus  Miner, r.  Mrs.  Lydia  J.  Miner. 

David  B.  Spencer, Mrs.  D.  B.  Spencer. 

Miss  Rhoda  W.  Spicer. 

CHICKASAW  MISSION. 

r.  Thomas  C.  Stuart, r.  Mrs.  Stuart. 

r.  William  C.  Blair, r.  Mrs.  Blair. 

r.  Hugh  Wilson, r.  Mrs.  Ethalinda  Wilson. 

r.  James  Holmes, r.  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Holmes. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

*   Miss  Prudence  Wilson. 

r.  Miss  Emeline  H.  Richmond. 

MISSION  TO  THE  CREEKS. 

r.  John  Fleming, r.  Mrs.  Margaret  Fleming. 

Missionary  Physicians. 

r.  Geo.  L.  Weed,  M.  D.,  —  from  Cherokees,   r.  Mrs.  Eliza  H.  Weed. 
r.  Roderick  L.  Dodge,  M.  D.,  —  from  the 

Cherokees r.  Mrs.  Emeline  Dodge. 


MISSIONARIES   AND   ASSISTANT  MISSIONARIES. 

MISSION  TO  THE  OSAGES. 

r.  William  F.  Vaill, r.  Mrs.  Asenath  Vaill. 

r.  Nathaniel  B.  Dodge, r.  Mrs.  Sally  Dodge. 

r.  Benton  Pixley, r.  Mrs.  Lucia  F.  Pixley. 

*  William  B.  Montgomery, *   Mrs.  Harriet  Montgomery. 

r.  Amasa  Jones, r.  Mrs.  Roxanna  Jones. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 
r.  William  C.  Eequa, *   Mrs.  Susan  Requa. 

*   Mrs.  Jane  Requa. 
r.  George  Requa, *   Mrs.  Sarah  S.  Requa. 

r.  Mrs.  Mary  H.  Requa. 

r.  Daniel  H.  Austin, r.  Mrs.  Lydia  Austin. 

r.  Abraham  Redfleld, r.  Mrs.  Phebe  Redfield. 

r.  Samuel  B.  Bright r.  Mrs.  Charlotte  Bright. 

r.  Richard  Colby. 

r.  Miss  Mary  B.  Choate. 

r.  Miss  Mary  Etris. 

r.  Miss  Elvira  G.  Perkins. 

MISSION  TO  THE  PAWNEES. 

r.  John  Dunbar, »-.  Mrs.  Esther  Dunbar. 

Timothy  E.  Ranney,  —  see  Cherokees,  .        Mrs.  Charlotte  Ranney. 

Missionary  Physician. 

*  Benedict  Satterlee, *   Mrs.  Martha  A.  Satterlee. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  Samuel  Allis,     r.  Mrs.  Emeline  Allis. 

r.  George  B.  Gaston, r.  Mrs.  Gaston. 

MISSION  TO  OREGON  INDIANS. 

r.  Henry  H.  Spalding,— in  Oregon,    ...  *   Mrs.  Eliza  Spalding. 

r.  Gushing  Eells,  —  in  Oregon, r.  Mrs.  Myra  Bells. 

r.  Asa  B.  Smith, —  see  Sandwich  Islands, .  r.  Mrs.  Sarah  G.  Smith. 

r.  Elkanah  Walker,  —  in  Oregon, r.  Mrs.  Mary  Walker. 

Missionary  PItysician. 

*  Marcus  Whitman,  M.  D., ,+   *   Mrs.  Narcissa  Whitman. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  William  H.  Gray, r.  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Gray. 

r.  Cornelius  Rogers. 

MACKINAW  MISSION. 

r.  William  M.  Ferry, r.  Mrs.  Ferry. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  Martin  Heydenburk, r.  Mrs.  Huldah  W.  Heydenburk. 

r.  John  8.  Hudson, ; r.  Mrs.  Hudson. 

r.  John  Newland, r.  Mrs.  Newland. 

r.  Abel  D.  Newton. 

r.  Lucius  Garey, r.  Mrs.  Frances  M.  Garey. 

r.  Mason  Hearsey. 

r.  W.  R.  Campbell, r.  Mrs.  Dolly  Campbell. 


432  APPENDIX. 

r.  Miss  Betsey  McFarland. 
r.  Miss  Haunah  Goodale. 
r.  Miss  Persia  Skinner. 

MISSION  TO  THE  STOCKBBIDGE  INDIANS. 

*  Jesse  Miner, r.  Mrs.  Amanda  Miner. 

r.  Cutting  Marsh, r.  Mrs.  Eunice  O.  Marsh. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

*  Augustus  T.  Ambler. 

r.  Chauncey  Hall, r.  Mrs.  Matilda  Hall. 

r.  Miss  Sophia  Mudgett. 

MISSION  AT  MATJMEE. 

r.  Isaac  Van  Tassel, r.  Mrs.  Van  Tassel. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  Sidney  L.  firewater,    .  . r.  Mrs.  Sarah  Brewster. 

r.  Miss  Hannah  Riggs. 
r.  Miss  Rebecca  NewelL 

NEW  YORK  INDIANS. 

r.  Thompson  8.  Harris, r.  Mrs.  Marrianne  Harris. 

r.*  Joseph  Lane, r.  Mrs.  Rebecca  Lane. 

r.  John  Eliot, - r.  Mrs.  Mary  Eliot. 

Asher  Wright, *   Mrs.  Martha  Wright. 

Mrs.  Laura  M.  Wright. 

r.  Asher  Bliss, r.  Mrs.  Cassandra  Bliss. 

r.  William  Williams, r.  Mrs.  Mehetibel  Williams. 

r.  William  Hall, .  r.  Mrs.  Emeline  Hall. 

r.  Gilbert  Rockwood, r.  Mrs.  Avis  Rockwood. 

r.  Joshua  Potter,  —  from  Choctaws,    .  .  .  r.  Mrs.  Jane  Potter. 

Anson  Gleasou,  —  from  Choctaws,  .  .  .        Mrs.  Bethiah  W.  Gleason. 

Assistant  Missionaries. 

r.  William  A.  Thayer, r.  Mrs.  Susan  Thayer. 

r.  Hanover  Bradley, r.  Mrs.  Catharine  Bradley. 

r.  Miss  Asenath  Bishop. 

r.  Miss  Nancy  Henderson. 

r.  Miss  Emily  Root. 

r.  Miss  Elizabeth  Stone. 

r.  Miss  Relief  Thayer. 

r.  Miss  Fidelia  Adams. 

r.  Miss  Hannah  T.  Whitcomb. 

*   Miss  Margaret  N.  Hall. 
Miss  Mary  L.  Gleason. 
Nathaniel  H.  Pierce, Mrs.  Agnes  D.  Pierce. 

r.  Miss  Sophia  Mudgett. 

r.  Miss  Mary  Jane  Thayer. 

r.  Miss  Caroline  A.  Fox, —  see  Choetaws. 

r.  Miss  Jerusha  Edwards,  —  see  Choctaws. 

r.  Miss  Eunice  Wise. 

r.  Miss  Mary  Kent. 

r.  Miss  Harriet  S.  Clark. 


EEGULATIONS  FOR  THE  EXPENDITURE  OP  THE  MISSIONS.   433 


VI.    REGULATIONS  FOE  THE  EXPENDITURE  OF  THE 

MISSIONS. 

[Adopted  October,  I860.— See  p.  169.] 

1.  The  annual  appropriations  to  the  several  missions  should  cover  every 
probable  expenditure  within  the  mission,  including  exchange  on  sale  of  bills 
by  the  treasurer  of  the  mission. 

2.  The  missions  should  keep    rigidly  within  the  amount  appropriated, 
but  should  be  allowed  to  transfer  appropriations  from  one  department  of 
service  to  another,  when  considered  necessary  by  the  mission. 

3.  No  mission  should  ask  for  a  special  grant  during  the  year,  except  for 
very  cogent  reasons,  nor  unless  it  is  willing  the  special  grant  should  be 
charged  to  the  appropriation  for  the  next  following  year.     In  case  the  Pru- 
dential Committee  make  such  grant,  they  should  charge  it  to  the  next  annual 
appropriation,  unless  the  contingent  fund  for  the  year  will  bear  it,  or  the 
state  of  the  receipts  indicate  that  it  may  safely  be  added  to  the  annual  ap- 
propriation without  occasioning  a  debt.     The  mission  should  be  informed 
whether  it  is  charged  to  the  contingent  fund,  or  carried  forward  as  a  charge 
for  the  next  year,  or  covered  by  a  supplementary  appropriation. 

4.  The  appropriations,  or  reserved  fund,  for  new  missionaries,  should 
embrace  :    1.  Estimated  outfit  of  the  missionaries  to  be  sent  during  the  year ; 
2.  The  cost  of  their  outward  passage ;  and,  3.  Their  expenses  after  reaching 
the  field,  until  they  can  be  put  on  salaries  under  the  regular  appropriations. 
If  the  expenses  of  a  new  missionary,  after  his  arrival  in  the  mission  and  before 
he  is  placed  on  a  salary,  are  borne  by  the  funds  in  the  hands  of  the  mission, 
the  mission  should  charge  the  sum  so  expended  to  the  Board,  to  be  reim- 
bursed by  a  supplementary  appropriation  chargeable  to  the  fund  reserved  for 
new  missionaries.     After  this  fund  has  been  exhausted,  no  more  new  mis- 
sionaries should  be  sent  out  during  that  year,  unless  the  receipts  clearly 
indicate  that  it  may  be  done  without  the   hazard  of  thereby  creating  a 
debt. 

5.  The  fund  reserved  for  missionaries  returning  to  their  fields  (whether 
by  itself,  or  consolidated  with  that  for  new  missionaries)  should  embrace  the 
passage  money,  refit  if  any,  and  traveling  and  other  expenses  after  their 
arrival,  until  they  are  put  upon  salaries.     These  last  expenses,  if  paid  by  the 
mission  from  funds  otherwise  appropriated,  should  be  charged  to  the  Board, 
to  be  reimbursed  and  charged  as  in  the  case  of  new  missionaries. 

6.  The  reserved  fund  for  homeward-bound  missionaries  should  embrace 
the  expenses  of  their  return  home.     The  homeward  expenses  should  be 
borne  by  the  mission,  to  the  extent  of  the  unexpended  balance  of  the  appro- 
priation for  the  salary  and  other  expenses  of  the  returning  missionary.     If 
the  mission  pay  more  than  this  balance,  the  excess  should  be  charged  to  the 

55 


434  APPENDIX. 

Board,  and  should  be  reimbursed  by  the  Committee,  and  charged  to  this 
reserved  fund.  —  The  appropriations  for  missionaries  while  in  this  country 
should  be  provided  for  by  a  distinct  fund ;  and  their  expenses  should  be 
compensated  for,  as  far  as  circumstances  will  permit,  by  the  labors  of  those 
missionaries  in  behalf  of  the  Board,  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretaries. 

7.  One  of  the  Regulations  of  the  Board  is  as  follows,  viz. :  "  When  any 
missionary  or  assistant  missionary  of  the  Board  shall  desire,  on  account  of 
ill  health  or  any  other  cause,  to  return  to  the  United  States,  he  is  required 
to  .obtain  permission  from  the  Prudential  Committee  so  to  do,  when  it  is 
practicable,  (always  sending  with  his  request  the  opinion  of  his  mission,)  and 
when  impracticable  to  obtain   such  permission,  he  is  required  to  obtain  the 
consent  of  his  mission  ;  which  consent  shall  always  be  subject  to  the  revision 
of  the  Prudential  Committee."     If  a  mission,  or  its  authorized  committee, 
consent  to  the  return  of  a  missionary  in  disregard  of  this  rule  of  the  Board, 
the  expense  of  the  return  should  be  charged  to  the  mission,  unless  the  return 
shall  be  approved  by  the  Prudential  Committee,  after  being  informed  of  the 
facts.     But,  if  the  Committee  shall  subsequently  approve  of  the  return,  the 
rights  and  liabilities  of  the  parties  are  to  stand  as  if  there  had  been  a  pre- 
vious consent. 

8.  The  annual  appropriation  shall  contain  an  item  for  contingencies  ;  and 
this  item  shall  be  such  percentage  of  the  estimated  receipts  of  the  year,  as 
experience  shall  show  to  be  necessary.     This  appropriation  is  designed  to 
cover  such  necessary  expenditures  as  can  not  be  foreseen  when  the  annual 
appropriations  are  made.     Balances  remaining  to  the  credit  of  either  of 
these  reserved  funds,  namely,  for  new  missionaries,  missionaries  returning  to 
their  fields,  missionaries  in  this  country,  or  contingencies,  may  be  transferred 
to  either  of  the  other  reserved  funds  that  shall  most  need  them. 

9.  If,  at  the  end  of  any  year,  there  shall  remain  in  the  treasury  of  any 
mission  an  unexpended  balance  from  previous  appropriations,  the  treasurer 
of  the  mission  shall  certify  the  amount  of  such  balance  to  the  Treasurer  of 
the  Board,  in  order  that  ho  may  take  it  into  account  in  his  remittances  for 
the  next  following  year. 


LITERATURE   OF  THE  BOARD.  435 


VII.     LITERATURE  OF  THE  BOARD  AND  OF  ITS 
MISSIONS. 

[See  pp.  190-194,  369-382.] 

THE  limits  of  this  work  do  not  admit  of  any  thing  like  a  full  catalogue  of 
the  publications  which  come  properly  under  the  above  heading.  For  gen- 
eral views,  and  for  all  that  needs  to  be  said  concerning  the  Reports,  Period- 
icals, and  Tracts  of  the  Board,  the  reader  is  referred  to  pages  190-194, 
369-382.  The  titles  of  the  Biographies,  Histories,  Travels,  Sermons,  and 
Miscellanies  are  necessarily  very  much  abridged.  Of  the  publications  by 
the  Missions,  in  various  languages,  some  of  the  more  important  will  be 
noted,  with  the  number  of  titles  in  each  language,  so  far  as  known, 

MISSIONARY    BIOGRAPHY. 

Life  and  Labors  of  Samuel  Worcester,  D.  D.,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  A.  B.  C. 
F.  M.  By  his  son,  Samuel  M.  Worcester,  D.  D.  2  vols.  Boston,  Crocker  &  Brewster, 
1852.  pp.  468  and  488. 

Memoir  of  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq.,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  By 
E.  C.  Tracy.  Boston,  1845.  pp.  448. 

Memoir  of  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius.  By  B.  B.  Edwards.  Boston,  Perkins  &  Marvin, 
1833.  pp.360. 

Memoir  and  Sermons  of  W.  J.  Armstrong,  D.  D.,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  By  Rev.  Hollis  Read.  New  York,  1853.  pp.  411. 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  Harriet  Newell,  Missionary  to  India,  who  died  at  the  Isle  of  France, 
Nov.  30,  1812,  aged  nineteen  years.  By  Leonard  Woods,  D.  D.  Boston,  Samuel  T.  Arm- 
strong, 1818.  pp.  258. 

Memoirs  of  Samuel  J.  Mills.  By  Gardiner  Spring,  D.  D.  New  York,  1820.  pp.  247. 
Also,  an  Improved  Edition,  1829,  edited  by  E.  C.  Bridgman  and  C.  W.  Allen,  pp.  259. 

Memoir  of  Adoniram  Judson,  D.  D.  By  Francis  Wayland,  D.  D.  Boston,  1853. 
2  vols.  pp.  544  and  521.  ^ 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  Ann  H.  Judson.    By  James  D.  Knowles.    Boston,  1829  and  1856.      ' 

Memoir  of  Rev.  Levi  Parsons,  Missionary  to  Palestine.  By  Rev.  Daniel  O.  Morton. 
Smith  &  Shute,  1824.  pp.  431. 

Memoir  of  Rev.  Pliny  Fisk,  Missionary  to  Palestine.  By  Alvan  Bond.  Boston, 
Crocker  &  Brewster,  1828.  pp.  437. 

Memoir  of  Rev.  Gordon  Hall,  one  of  the  First  Missionaries  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
By  Horatio  Bard  well.  Andover,  Flagg,  Gould  &  Newman,  1834.  pp.  260. 

Life  and  Letters  of  Rev.  Daniel  Temple,  Missionary  in  Western  Asia.  By  his  son, 
Rev.  Daniel  H.  Temple.  Congregational  Board  of  Publication,  1855.  pp.  492. 

Memoirs  of  American  Missionaries,  formerly  connected  with  tho  Society  of  Inquiry 
respecting  Missions  in  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary.  Boston,  Peirce  &  Parker, 
1833.  pp.367. 

Memoirs  of  Rev.  Samuel  Munson  and  Rev.  Henry  Lyman,  Missionaries  to  the  Indian 
Archipelago.  By  Rev.  William  Thompson.  New  York,  1839.  pp.  196. 

The  Martyr  of  Sumatra :  A  Memoir  of  Henry  Lyman.    New  York,  1856.    pp.  437. 

Memoir  of  Asahel  Grant,  M.  D.,  Missionary  to  the  Nestorians.  By  Rev.  A.  C.  Lath- 
rop.  New  York,  M.  W.  Dodd,  1847.  pp.  216. 

DP.  Asahel-  Grant  and  the  Mountain  Nestorians.  By  Rev.  Thomas  Laurie,  surviving 
Associate  in  that  Mission.  Boston,  Gould  &  Lincoln,  1853  and  1850.  pp.  418. 


436  APPENDIX. 

Memoir  of  David  Abeel,  D.  D.,  Missionary  to  China.  By  Rev.  G.  R.  Williamson.  New 
York,  Robert  Carter,  1848.  pp.  315. 

Memoir  of  Rev.  Henry  LobdeU,  M.  D.,  Missionary  at  Mosul.  By  W.  S.  Tyler,  D.  D. 
Boston,  American  Tract  Society,  1859.  pp.  -114. 

Memoir  of  Rev.  David  Tappan  Stoddard,  Missionary  to  the  Nestorians.  By  Joseph 
P.  Thompson,  D.  D.  New  York,  Sheldon,  Blakeman  &  Co.  pp.  422. 

Memorial  of  Rev.  Henry  Martyn  Adams,  Missionary  to  Western  Africa.  By  Rev. 
Albert  Bushnell.  Boston,  Mass.  Sabbath  School  Society,  1859.  pp.  69. 

American  Missionary  Memorial.  By  H.  W.  Pierson.  New  York,  Harper  &  Brothers, 
1853.  pp.  504.  [This  volume  contains  sketches  of  Gordon  Hall,  James  Richards,  Adoni- 
ram  Judson,  Pliny  Fisk,  Levi  Parsons,  Daniel  Temple,  Azariah  Smith,  David  Abeel, 
Frederic  B.  Thomson,  Samuel  Munson,  and  Henry  Lyman  ;  also  of  Harriet  Newell,  Ann 
H.  Judson,  Harriet  L.  Winslow,  Catharine  H.  Scudder,  and  Sarah  L.  Smith.] 

Sermons  by  Rev.  Reuben  Tinker,  Missionary  at  the  Sandwich  Islands ;  with  a  Bio- 
graphical Sketch.  By  M.  L.  P.  Thompson,  D.  D.  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  1856.  pp.  421. 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  Myra  W.  Allen,  Missionary  in  .Bombay.  By  Cyrus  Maun.  Boston, 
Mass.  Sab.  School  Society,  1834.  pp.  256. 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  Harriet  Wadsworth  Winslow,  of  the  Ceylon  Mission.  By  Myron 
Winslow.  New  York,  Leavitt,  Lord  &  Co.,  1835.  i>p.  408. 

Remains  of  Mrs.  Catharine  Winslow,  of  the  American  Mission  at  Madras.  By  Rev. 
Jared  B.  Waterbury.  Boston,  Mass.  Sabbath  School  Society,  1851.  pp.  357. 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Lanman  Smith,  of  the  Mission  in  Syria.  By  Edward  W. 
Hooker,  of  Bennington,  Vt.  Boston,  Perkins  &  Marvin,  1839.  pp.  407. 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  Mary  Elizabeth  Van  Lennep,  Missionary  in  Turkey.  By  her  Mother. 
New  York,  1847  and  I860.  pp.  382. 

Memorial  of  Mrs.  Henrietta  A.  L.  Hamlin,  Missionary  in  Turkey.  By  Margarette 
Woods  Lawrence.  Boston,  Ticknor,  Reed  &  Fields,  1854.  pp.  321. 

Memoir  of  Mary  M.  Ellis,  Wife  of  the  Rev.  William  Ellis,  Missionary  to  the  South 
Seas  and  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  Foreign  Secretary  to  the  London  Missionary  Soci- 
ety. By  William  Ellis.  London. 

Memorial  of  Mrs.  Seraphina  Haynes  Everett  and  Mrs.  Harriet  Martha  Hamlin,  Mis- 
Bionarics  at  Constantinople.  By  Mrs.  Mary  G.  Benjamin.  Boston,  American  Tract 
Society,  I860. 

Bartimeus  of  the  Sandwich  Islands.    By  Rev.  Hiram  Bingham.    New  York,  American 
v  Tract  Society,    pp.  58. 

Memoir  of  Charles  Lathrop  Winslow.    Boston,  William  Pierce,  1834.    pp.  108. 

Memoir  of  Lucy  Goodale  Thurston,  of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  By  Mrs.  Cummings. 
*New  York,  Dayton  &  Newman,  1842.  pp.  233. 

Memoir  of  Judith  Grant  Perkins,  of  Oroomiah,  Persia.  By  her  Father.  Boston,  John 
P.  Jewctt  &  Co.,  1853.  pp.  224. 

,.     Memoirs  of  Henry  Obookiah,  of  Hawaii,  a  Member  of  the  Foreign  Mission  School. 
Philadelphia,  Am.  S.  S.  Union,  1829.    pp.  126. 

Memoirs  of  the  Converted  Brahmin  Babajce.  By  Rev.  Hollis  Read.  2  vols.  New 
York,  Leavitt,  Lord  &  Co.,  1836.  pp.  264  and  -275. 

Sketches  of  Pious  Nestorians  who  have  died  at  Oroomiah,  Persia.  By  Members  of 
the  Mission.  Boston,  Mass.  S.  S.  Society,  1857.  pp.  284. 

Memoir  of  Catherine  Brown,  a  Christian  Indian  of  the  Cherokee  Nation.  By  Rufus 
Anderson.  Boston,  Crocker  &  Brewster,  1824.  pp.  144. 

Memoir  of  John  Arch,  a  Cherokee  Young  Man.    Mass.  S.  S.  Union,  1832.    pp.  33. 

The  Little  Osage  Captive.    By  Elias  Cornelius.    Mass.  S.  S.  Society,  1832. 


LITERATURE  OF  THE  BOARD.  437 


HISTORICAL   WORKS   BY   MISSIONARIES. 

A  Sketch  of  Missions.  By  Myron  Winslow,  Missionary  to  Ceylon.  Andover,  Flagg 
&  Gould,  1819.  pp.  432. 

India  and  its  People,  Ancient  and  Modern.  By  Rev.  Hollis  Read,  Missionary  to  India. 
Columbus,  Ohio,  J.  &  H.  Miller,  1859.  pp.  384. 

The  Civil,  Religious,  and  Political  History  of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  By  Hiram  Bing- 
ham,  Twenty-one  Years  a  Missionary  at  those  Islands.  Hartford,  Hezokiuh  Huntingdon, 
1847.  ppf61G. 

History  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  Mission.  By  Rev.  Sheldon  Dibble,  Missionary  to 
those  Islands.  New  York,  Taylor  &  Dodd,  1&39.  pp.  208. 

Western  Africa,  its  History,  Condition,  and  Prospects.  By  Rev.  John  Leighton  "Wil- 
son, Eighteen  Years  a  Missionary  in  Africa.  New  York,  Harper  &  Brothers,  1850.  pp.  527. 

Residence  of  Eight  Years  among  the  Nestorians  in  Persia.  By  Rev.  Justin  Perkins. 
Andover,  Allen,  Morrill  &  Wardwell,  1843.  pp.  512. 

The  Middle  Kingdom ;  a  Survey  of  the  Geography,  Government,  Education,  Social 
Life,  Arts,  Religion,  etc.,  of  the  Chinese  Empire  and  its  Inhabitants.  By  S.  Wells  Wil- 
liams, LL.  D.,  Missionary  to  China.  2  vols.  New  York,  Wiley  &  Putnam,  1848. 
pp.  590  and  (514. 

Christianity  Revived  in  the  East ;  or,  A  Narrative  of  the  Work  of  God  among  the 
Armenians  of  Turkey.  By  Rev.  H.  G.  O.  Dwight,  Missionary  at  Constantinople. 
New  York,  1850.  pp.  290. 

Christianity  in  Turkey.  The  Protestant  Reformation  in  the  Armenian  Church.  By 
H.  G.  O.  Dwight,  D.  D.  London,  1854.  pp.  360. 

India,  Ancient  and  Modern,  Geographical,  Historical,  Political,  Social,  and  Religious ; 
with  a  Particular  Account  of  the  State  and  Prospects  of  Christianity.  By  David  Oliver 
Allen,  D.  D.,  Missionary  for  Twenty-five  Years  in  India.  Boston,  John  P.  Jewett  &  Co., 
1856.  pp.  618. 

MISSIONARY   TRAVELS. 

Journal  of  a  Residence  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  during  the  Years  1823, 1824,  and  1825. 
By  Charles  Samuel  Stewart,  Missionary  at  the  Islands.  London,  Fisher  &  Jackson, 
1828.  pp.  407. 

A  Residence  at  Constantinople  in  the  Year  1827.  By  Josiah  Brewer,  Missionary  to  the 
Mediterranean.  New  Haven,  Durvie  &  Peck,  ia30.  pp.  372. 

Observations  upon  the  Peloponnesus  and  Greek  Islands.    By  Rufus  Anderson.    Bos- 
ton, Crocker  &  Brewster,  1830.    pp.  a34. 
X        A  Residence  in  the  Sandwich  Islands.    By  Charles  Samuel  Stewart,  Missionary  at  the 

Islands.    Boston,  Weeks,  Jordan  &  Co.,  1839.    pp.  348. 

y  A  Visit  to  the  South  Seas,  in  the  United  States  Ship  Vincennes.  By  Charles  S.  Stew- 
art, Chaplain  in  the  U.  S.  Navy.  2  vols.  New  York,  John  P.  Haven,  1831.  pp.  357 
and  300. 

Exploring  Tour  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains.  By  Rev.  Samuel  Parker.  Ithaca,  N.  Y., 
1838.  pp.371. 

The  Nestorians,  or  the  Lost  Tribes.  By  Asahel  Grant,  M.  D.  London,  John  Murray, 
1841,  and  New  York,  1841.  pp.  338. 

Researches  of  the  Rev.  E.  Smith  and  Rev.  H.  G.  O.  Dwight,  in  Armenia.  By  Eli 
Smith.  Boston,  Crocker  &  Brewster,  1833.  pp.  328  and  348.  Republished  in  London. 

The  Land  and  the  Book ;  or  Biblical  Illustrations  drawn  from  the  Manners,  Customs, 
Scenes,  and  Scenery  of  the  Holy  Land.  By  William  M.  Thomson,  D.  D.,  Missionary  In 
Syria  and  Palestine.  2  vols.  New  York,  Harper  &  Brothers,  1859.  pp.  557  and  614. 

Life  in  India ;  or,  Madras,  the  Neilgherries,  and  Calcutta.  By  Rev.  John  W.  Dulles. 
Philadelphia,  1855.  pp.  528. 

Journal  of  a  Residence  in  China  and  the  Neighboring  Countries,  from  1829  to  1833. 
By  David  Abeel,  D.  D.  New  York,  Leavitt,  Lord  &  Co.,  1834.  pp.  398. 

Journal  of  a  Missionary  Tour  in  India,  performed  by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Read  and  Ram- 
sey. By  William  Ramsey.  Philadelphia,  J.  Wetham,  1830.  pp.  367. 


438  APPENDIX. 


MISSIONARY    SERMONS    BEFORE    THE    BOARD. 

Tear.  Place  of  Meeting.  Preacher.  Text. 

1813 Boston *  Timothy  Dwight,  D.  D John  10: 16. 

1814 New  Haven.    .  .  .  *  James  Richards,  D.  D Ephes.  3:8. 

1815 Salem *  Calvin  Chapin,  D.  D Ps.  9G :  10. 

1816 Hartford *  Henry  Davis,  D.  D Ps.  119:95. 

1817 Northampton.     .  .  *  Jesse  Appleton,  D.  D 1  Cor.  1:21. 

1818 New  Haven.    .  .  .  *  Samuel  Spring,  D.  D Acts  8:  30,  31. 

1819 Boston *  Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D Isaiah  58: 12. 

1820 Hartford Eliphalet  Nott,  D.  D Mark  10 : 15. 

1821 Springfield *  Jcdediah  Morse,  D.  D Ps.  2:8. 

1822 New  Haven.    ...  *  Alexander  Proudfit,  D.  D Mai.  1 :  11. 

1823 Boston Jeremiah  Day,  D.  D Neh.  6 :  3. 

1824 Hartford *  Samuel  Austin,  D.  D Gal.  1 :  15, 16. 

1825 Northampton.    .  .  *  Joshua  Bates,  D.  D John  8 : 32. 

1826 Middletown.    ...  *  Edward  D.  Griffin,  D.  D Matt.  28 : 18,  20. 

1827 New  York.   ....    Lyman  Beecher,  D.  D Luke  11 :  21,  Rev.,  &C. 

1828 Philadelphia.  ...  *  John  H.  Rice,  D.  D 2  Cor.  10  : 4. 

1829 Albany *  Archibald  Alexander,  D.  D.  .  .  .  Acts  11 :  18. 

1830 Boston Thomas  DeWitt,  D.  D Matt.  9  :  37,  38. 

1831 New  Haven.    .  .  .  *  Leonard  Woods,  D.  D Isaiah  02  : 1,  2. 

1832 New  York William  Allen,  D.  D John  8: 30. 

1833 Philadelphia.  ...»  William  Murray,  D.  D 2  Cor.  10  :  4. 

1834 Utica Gardiner  Spring,  D.  D Matt.  10 :  (i. 

1835 Baltimore *  Samuel  Miller,  D.  D Numb.  14  :  21. 

1836 Hartford *  John  Codman,  D.  D Matt.  10:8. 

1837 Newark John  McDowall,  D.  D Acts  4  : 12. 

ia38 Portland Hcman  Humphrey,  D.  D Ps.  102 : 13-16. 

1839 Troy Thomas  McAuley,  D.  D Isaiah  11 : 9. 

1840 Providence Nathan  S.  S.  Beman,  D.  D.    ...  Ps.  72 : 17. 

1841 Philadelphia.  ...»  Justin  Edwards,  D.  D Zech.  4  :  6. 

1842 Norwich William  R.  DeWitt,  D.  D 2  Cor.  5 : 14. 

1843 Rochester Thomas  H.  Skinner,  D.  D Phil.  3:13. 

1844 Worcester Rev.  Albert  Barnes Luke  14  :  28-32. 

Ig45 Brooklyn Mark  Hopkins,  D.  D Ps.  55 :  22. 

1846 New  Haven.    .  .  .    Joel  Hawes,  D.  D 1  Sam.  7 : 12. 

1847 Buffalo David  Magic,  D.  D Isaiah  33 : 15. 

1848 Boston Isaac  Ferris,  D.  D Matt.  6:10. 

1849 Pittsfleld Samuel  H.  Cox,  D.  D Dan.  7  :  27. 

1850 Oswego Richard  S.  Storrs,  D.  D 1  Cor.  15 : 58. 

1851 Portland David  H.  Riddle,  D.  D Isaiah  41 : 14, 15. 

1852 Troy Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D 2  Cor.  5 :  7. 

1853. ....  Cincinnati William  Adams,  D.  D Matt.  13  :  38. 

1854 Hartford Charles  White,  D.  D Matt.  6 : 10. 

1855 Utica Nehemiah  Adams,  D.  D Gal.  2  :  20. 

1856 Newark George  W.  Bethune,  D.  D.     .  .  .  1  Tim.  1 : 15. 

1857 Providence, ....     M.  LaRue  P.  Thompson,  D.  D.     .  Matt.  28  :  20. 

1858 Detroit George  Shepard,  D.  D Luke  11:41. 

1859 Philadelphia.  .  .  .    Robert  W.  Patterson,  D.  D.  .  .  .  Matt.  13 :  33. 

I860..  .  .  .Boston Samuel  W.  Fisher,  D.  D Isaiah  45 : 1-6,  43 : 21. 


LITERATURE   OF  THE  BOARD.  439 


BEFORE    AUXILIARY    SOCIETIES. 

The  Kingdom  of  the  Messiah.  For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  Salem  and  Vicinity,  1813.  By  Samuel 
Worcester,  D.  D. 

For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  Litchfleld  County,  1813.    By  Bennet  Tyler. 

The  Enlargement  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  Norwich  and  Vicinity, 
1813.  By  Levi  Nelson. 

The  Burden  and  Heat  of  the  Day  borne  by  the  Jewish  Church.  At  Shelburne,  Mass., 
1813.  By  Joshua  Spaulding. 

Soc.  of  For.  Miss,  of  Boston  and  Vicinity,  1813.    By  Abicl  Holmes,  D.  D. 

Soc.  of  For.  Miss,  of  Boston  and  Vicinity.    By  William  Grcenough. 

Revelation  necessary  to  Salvation.  For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  Windham  County,  1815.  By 
Zebulon  Ely. 

Thy  Kingdom  come.    For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  Boston  and  Vic.,  1820.    By  Sereno  E.  Dwight. 

The  Relation  of  the  Present  State  of  Religion  to  the  Millennium.  For.  Miss.  Soc.  of 
Boston  and  Vicinity,  1823.  By  James  Sabine. 

The  Duty  of  Christians  to  the  Jews.  Palestine  Miss.  Soc.  in  Halifax,  Mass.,  1823. 
By  Daniel  Huntington. 

The  Moral  Condition  and  Prospects  of  the  Heathen.  For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  Boston  and 
Vicinity,  1824.  By  Benjamin  B.  Wisner. 

Bible,  For.  Miss.,  and  Education  Societies  of  the  County  of  Hampden,  1823.  By  Wil- 
liam B.  Spragtie. 

Palestine  Miss.  Soc.,  1824.    By  Daniel  Thomas. 

Signs  of  the  Times.    Formation  of  an  Aux.  Miss.  Soc.,  1824.    By  Rev.  Thomas  Snell. 

The  Obligations  of  Christians  to  the  Heathen  World.  Aux.  For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  Boston 
and  Vicinity.  1825.  By  Warren  Fay. 

Signs  of  the  Times.  For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  1850.  By  Erskine 
Mason,  D.  D. 

Christianity,  its  Destined  Supremacy  on  the  Earth.  For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  New  York  and 
Brooklyn,  1851.  By  Richard  S.  Storrs,  Jr. 

Personal  Piety,  as  related  to  the  Missionary  Work.  For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  New  York  and 
Brooklyn,  1852.  By  Asa  D.  Smith,  D.  D. 

For.  Miss.  Soc.  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  1853.    By  M.  S.  Hutton,  D.  D. 

Dr.  George  B.  Cheever's  Sermon,  1854.    Same  Society. 

Dr.  William  Adams's  Sermon,  1855.    Same  Society. 

Rev.  William  Hogarth's  Sermon,  1850.    Same  Society. 

Rev.  Samuel  T.  Spear's  Sermon,  1857.    Same  Society. 

Dr.  Joel  Parker's  Sermon,  1858.    Same  Society. 

Rev.  Rufus  W.  Clark's  Sermon,  1859.    Same  Society. 

Dr.  Walter  Clarke's  Sermon,  I860.    Same  Society. 

Palestine  Miss.  Soc.,  1857.    By  Rev.  Ezekiel  Russell. 

ORDINATION    SERMONS. 

In  the  Tabernacle  Church,  Salem,  Nov.  5, 1818,  at  the  ordination  of  the  Messrs.  Pliny 
Fisk,  Lcvi  Spaulding,  Myron  Winslow,  and  Henry  Woodward.  By  Moses  Stuart. 

The  Promised  Land.  In  Goshen,  Conn.,  at  the  ordination  of  the  Messrs.  Hiram  Bing- 
ham  and  Asa  Thurston,  as  Missionaries  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Sept.  29,  1819.  By 
Heman  Humphrey. 

At  North  Bridgewater,  Oct.  31, 1821,  at  the  ordination  of  the  Messrs.  Daniel  Temple 
and  Isaac  Bird,  as  Missionaries.  By  Rev.  Richard  S.  Storrs. 

At  New  Haven,  Conn.,  Sept.  12, 1822,  at  the  ordination  of  the  Messrs.  William  Goodell, 
William  Richards,  and  Artemas  Bishop,  as  Missionaries.  By  Samuel  Miller,  D.  D. 

In  the  Tabernacle  Church,  Salem,  Sept.  25, 1823,  at  the  ordination  of  Rev.  Edmund  Frost, 
as  a  Missionary  to  the  heathen;  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Aaron  Warner,  Ansel  D.  Eddy, 
Nathan  W.  Fiske,  Isaac  Oakes,  and  George  Sheldon,  as  Evangelists.  By  Elias  Cornelius. 

In  Park-street  Church,  August  25,  1825,  at  the  ordination  of  the  Messrs.  Emathan 
Gridley  and  Samuel  Austin  Worcester,  as  Missionaries.  By  Leonard  Worcester. 


• 


440  APPENDIX. 

Rev.  Joseph  Tracy's  Sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Rev.  Ira  Tracy,  Oct.  28, 1832. 

Theory  of  Missions  to  the  Heathen  :  a  Sermon  at  the  ordination  of  the  Rev.  Edward 
Webb,  Oct.  23,  18-15,  as  a  Missionary.  By  Rufus  Anderson. 

The  Moral  Unity  of  the  Human  Race.  At  the  ordination  of  Luther  Halsey  Guliek, 
M.  D.,  as  a  Missionary  to  the  Micronesia  Islands,  1851.  By  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  D.  D. 

In  the  North  Church,  New  Haven,  Nov.  9,  185G,  at  the  ordination  of  Rev.  Hirain  Bing- 
ham,  Jr.  By  Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D. 

FUNERAL    SERMONS. 

On  the  Death  of  Jeremiah  Evarts.  In  Andover,  July  31, 1831.  By  Leonard  "Woods,  D.  D. 

At  the  Funeral  of  Benjamin  B.  Wisner,  D.  D.,  1835.    By  Warren  Fay,  D.  D. 

The  Christian  Missionary  desiring  to  be  with  Christ.  At  Westboro',  Mass.,  June  30, 
1840,  at  the  Funeral  of  Rev.  Ephraim  Spaulding,  Missionary.  By  Rufus  Anderson,  D.  D. 

Ministerial  Fidelity  exemplified.  At  the  Funeral  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Crosby,  Pastor  of 
the  Winthrop  Church,  Charlestown,  March  3, 1843.  By  David  Greene. 

A  Father's  Memorial  of  an  Only  Daughter.  In  the  First  Church  in  Hartford,  Dec.  9, 
1844,  on  the  'death  of  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Van  Lennep,  in  Constantinople,  Sept.  27,  1844.  By 
Joel  Hawes,  D.  D. 

Occasioned  by  the  Death  of  William  J.  Armstrong,  D.  D.,  1846.    By  Nehemiah  Adams. 

In  the  North  Dutch  Church,  Albany,  May  6,  1849,  on  the  death  of  Rev.  William  J. 
Pohlman,  Missionary  to  China.  By  Duncan  Kennedy,  D.  D. 

The  Rest  of  Heaven.  At  Reading,  Mass.,  August  13,  1851,  at  the  Funeral  of  the  Rev. 
Daniel  Temple.  By  William  Goodell,  Missionary  at  Constantinople. 

At  Oroomiah,  Persia,  July  9, 1854,  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Rev.  William  R.  Stock- 
ing. By  Justin  Perkins. 

At  Seir,  Persia,  Sept.  17, 1854,  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Rev.  Edwin  H.  Crane.  By 
Rev.  Samuel  A.  Rhea. 

At  Oroomiah,  Oct.  11, 1857,  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Mrs.  Martha  Ann  Rhea.  By 
Rev.  Austin  H.  Wright,  M.  D. 

Occasioned  by  the  death  of  Mrs.  Harriet  B.  H.  Williams,  Missionary  at  Mosul ; 
preached  at  Auburndale,  Newton,  Mass.,  Feb.  28, 1858.  By  Rev.  Edward  W.  Clark. 

OCCASIONAL    SERMONS. 

The  Duty  of  the  American  Churches  in  respect  to  Foreign  Missions.  Preached  in  the 
Tabernacle,  Philadelphia,  Sabbath  morning,  Feb.  16, 1812 ;  and  in  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day.  By  Rev.  Gordon  Hall,  a  Missionary  to  the  East : 
delivered  the  day  but  one  before  he  sailed  for  India.  Philadelphia,  1812 ;  Andover,  1815. 

At  the  Old  South  Church,  Boston,  June  7, 1819.    By  Myron  Winslow. 

The  Dereliction  and  Restoration  of  the  Jews.  In  Park-street  Church,  Boston,  Sab- 
bath, Oct.  31,  1819,' just  before  the  departure  of  the  Palestine  Mission.  By  Levi  Par- 
sons, Missionary  to  Palestine. 

The  Holy  Land  an  Interesting  Field  of  Missionary  Enterprise.  In  the  Old  South 
Church,  Sabbath  evening,  Oct.  31, 1819,  just  before  the  departure  of  the  Palestine  Mission. 
By  Pliny  Fisk,  Missionary  to  Palestine. 

A  Sermon  in  the  Old  South  Church,  Boston,  Dec.  16, 1821.  By  Rev.  Daniel  Temple, 
just  before  his  departure  as  a  Missionary  to  Western  Asia. 

In  the  First  Church  in  Hartford,  July  7, 1844,  on  occasion  of  the  Author's  Return  from 
a  Missionary  Tour  to  the  Countries  east  of  the  Mediterranean.  By  Joel  Hawes,  D.  D. 

Rev.  Stephen  Johnson's  Thanksgiving  Sermon,  at  Gouverneur,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  24, 1853. 

Rev.  Lewis  Grout's  Sermon  at  the  Dedication  of  a  Congregational  House  of  Worship 
in  Durban,  South  Africa,  June  8,  1856. 

Rev.  Lewis  Grout's  Discourse  on  the  Religion  of  Faith  and  that  of  Form.  At  Dur- 
ban, 1857. 

Rev.  Lewis  Grout's  Discourse  on  the  Christian  Ministry.    At  Durban,  1857. 

Rev.  E.  G.  Beckwith's  Discourse  at  Honolulu,  Sandwich  Islands,  July  25, 1858,  at  the 
Funeral  of  Captain  Richard  Coady. 

The  Promise  to  Abraham.    A  Missionary  Sermon.    By  Mark  Hopkins,  D.  D. 


LITERATUEE   OF  THE  MISSIONS. 


441 


MISCELLANEOUS   WORKS. 

Essays  on  the  Present  Crisis  of  the  Condition  of  the  American  Indians ;  first  published 
in  the  National  Intelligencer,  under  the  signature  of  William  Penn.  By  Jeremiah  Evarts, 
Secretary  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  Boston,  Perkins  &  Marvin,  1829.  pp.  112. 

Letters  from  the  East.    By  John  Scudder,  M.  D.,  Missionary  hi  Ceylon.    Boston,  1833. 

Missionary  Sermons  and  Addresses.    By  Eli  Smith.    Boston,  1833. 

Letters  to  Children.    By  Rev.  E.  C.  Bridgman,  Missionary  in  China.    Boston,  1834. 

Meditations  on  the  Last  Days  of  Christ.  By  William  G.  Schauffler,  Missionary  of  the 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  Boston,  William  Pierce,  ia37.  pp.  380.  Improved  edition,  1858. 

The  Conquest  of  India  by  the  Church.    By  Eev.  Sendol  B.  Munger.    Boston,  1845. 

Letters  from  Broosa,  Asia  Minor.  By  Mrs.  Eliza  C.  A.  Schneider.  Chambersburg, 
Pa.,  1816.  pp.  210. 

Daughters  of  China ;  or,  Sketches  of  Domestic  Life  in  the  Celestial  Empire.  By  Eliza 
J.  Gillett  Bridgman.  New  York,  Carter  &  Brothers,  1853.  pp.  234. 

Reports  and  Letters  connected  with  Special  Meetings  of  the  Mahratta  and  Tamil  Mis- 
sions of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions.  1855.  Also, 
Reports  of  the  Syria  Mission,  and  of  a  Conference  at  Constantinople  ;  the  above  connected 
with  the  Visit  of  the  Deputation,  pp.  472. 

Hints  on  Missions  to  India.  By  Myron  Winslow,  Missionary  at  Madras.  New  York, 
M.  W.  Dodd,  1850.  pp.  236. 

Thoughts  on  Missions.  By  Rev.  Sheldon  Dibble,  Missionary  in  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
American  Tract  Society. 

IN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES. 

,  The  whole  number  of  distinct  publications  in  each  language  is  stated,  as 
far  as  known.  As  the  aggregate  of  the  titles  in  the  lists  that  are  at  command 
approaches  TWO  THOUSAND,  it  will  be  seen  that  only  a  few  of  the  larger  and 
more  obviously  important  works  can  be  named.  These  will  suffice  to  justify 
what  is  said  with  respect  to  the  Literature  of  the  Missions  in  the  chapter 
on  that  subject. — It  should  be  stated,  that  the  Scriptures  and  religious 
Tracts  were  generally  printed  at  the  expense  of  Bible  and  Tract  Societies. 


ARABIC  LANGUAGE. 

Forty-four  Titles. 

Elements  of  Arabic  Grammar,  12mo.,pp.  168. 
Arabic  Syntax,  16mo.,  pp.  74. 
Summary  of  Evangelical  Doctrines,  12mo., 

pp.  00. 
Office  and  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  12mo., 

pp.  256. 

On  Good  Works,  16mo.,  pp.  87. 
Nevins's  Thoughts  on  Popery,  16mo.,  pp.  156. 
Letter  to  Syrian  Clergy,  IGmo.,  pp.  20. 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  12mo. 
Bistany's  Arithmetic. 
Alexander's  Evidences  of  Christianity. 
Calhoun's  Companion  to  the  Bible. 
Van  Dyck's  Geography,  and  Algebra. 
Mcshakah  on  Skepticism. 
On  Eites  and  Ceremonies. 
New  Testament,  with  references. 
New  Testament,  pocket  edition. 

56 


Genesis,  16mo.,  pp.  136. 
Psalms  of  David,  12mo.,  pp.  276. 


MODERN  ARMENIAN. 

One  hundred  and  nineteen  Titles. 
Armenian  and  English  Grammar,  pp.  112. 
Worcester's  Astronomy,  16mo.,  pp.  104. 
Abercrombie   on   Mental    Culture,   24mo., 

pp.  84. 
English    and    Armenian    Grammar,   8vo., 

pp.  112. 

Mother  at  Home,  16mo.,  pp.  292. 
Dairyman's  Daughter,  12mo.,  pp.  48. 
Mary  Lothrop,  16mo.,  pp.  96. 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  12mo.,  pp.  814. 
New  Testament,  in  the  Ararat  dialect,  8vo., 

pp.  548. 
New  Testament,  with  Ancient  Armenian  in 

parallel  columns,  8vo.,  pp.  1020. 


442 


APPENDIX. 


Book  of  Psalms,  in  the  Ararat  dialect,  16mo., 

pp.  275. 

New  Testament,  pocket  ed.,  24mo.,  pp.  708. 
New  Testament,  with  marginal  references, 

12mo.,  pp.  948. 

New  Testament,  12mo.,  pp.  340. 
Old  Testament,  4  vols.,  12mo.,  pp.  3094. 
The  Bible,  12mo.,  pp.  1406. 
The  Bible,  with  references,  8vo.,  pp.  804. 
Concordance,  8vo.,  pp.  506. 
Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism,  with  Proofs. 
D'Aubigne's  History  of  the  Reformation, 

2  vols.,  8vo.,  pp.  1088. 

Flavel  on  Keeping  the  Heart,  12mo.,  pp.  180. 
Summary  of  Christian  Theology,  2  vols.,  Svo . 
Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress,  12mo., 

pp.  450. 

Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  12mo.,  pp.  173. 
British  Martyrology,  12mo.,  pp.  222. 
Scripture  Text  Book,  12mo.,  pp.  838. 
Whately's  Evidences,  16mo.,  pp.  192. 
Church  Member's  Guide,  12mo.,  pp.  167. 
Cause  and  Cure  of  Infidelity,  12mo.,  pp.  277. 
Hymn  Book,  and  Church  Music,  pp.  149. 
Twenty-two  Reasons  for  Attending  Public 

Worship,  12mo.,  pp.  20. 
Protestantism  not  a  New  Religion,  pp.  44. 
Exposition  of  an  Apostolical  Church,  pp.  48. 
Protestant    Confessions   and    Catechisms, 

16mo.,  pp.  265. 

Rule  of  Faith,  12mo.,  pp.  402. 
Am  I  a  Christian  ?  16mo.  and  12mo.,  pp.  54. 
Life  of  Zwingle,  12mo.,  pp.  74. 
Upham's  Intellectual  Philosophy,  pp.  60. 
Bible  Dictionary,  8vo.,  pp.  72. 
Daily  Meditations,  and  Great  Truths. 
Mental    and   Written    Arithmetic,    12mo., 

pp.  168. 

Grammar  of  the  Modern  Armenian  Con- 
stantinople Dialect,  8vo.,  pp.  84. 

ANCIENT  ARMENIAN. 

Six  Titles. 

New  Testament,  16mo.,  pp.  836. 
The  Psalms,  16mo.,  pp.  285. 
Christian  Teacher,  16mo.,  pp.  500. 
Daily  Food  for  Christians,  16mo.  pp.  62. 

ARMENO-TURKISH. 

Turlcish in  the  Armenian  Characters.  Fifty- 
three  Titles. 

Old  Testament,  12mo.,  pp.  2232. 
New  Testament,  12mo.  pp.  768. 
New  Testament,  with  references,  Svo.pp.  336. 
Commentary  on  Matthew,  8vo.,  718. 
Commentary  on  the  N.  Testament,  pp.  128. 
Chrysostom   on   Reading  the    Scriptures, 
12mo.,  pp.  106. 


Child's  Book  on  the  Soul,  16mo.,  pp.  168. 
Natural  Theology,  12mo.,  pp.  233. 
Abbott's  Young  Christian,  iL'mo.,  pp.  350 
Dialogues  on  Sin  and  Salvation,  pp.  140. 
Memoir  of  Dr.  Capadose,  12mo.,  pp.  52. 
False  Claims  of  the  Pope,  lOmo.,  pp.  112. 
Head  of  the  Church,  12mo.,  pp.  52. 
Guide  to  the  Use  of  the  Fathers,  16mo., 

pp.  318. 

Good  Works,  16mo.,  pp.  44. 
Tract  on  Intemperance,  12mo.,  pp.  46. 
Tract  on  Self-Examiuation,  ICmo.,  pp.  48. 
Light  of  the  Soul,  16mo.,  pp.  48. 
Mary  Lothrop,  24mo.,  pp.  172. . 
Selections  from  Pike's  Persuasions  to  Piety, 

12mo.,  pp.  70. 

The  Sabbath,  lOmo.,  pp.  116. 
Spelling  Book,  pp.  64  ;  Arithmetic,  pp.  68. 
Geography,  12mo.,  pp.  135. 
Hymn  Book,  16mo.,  pp.  112. 
Fourteen  Sermons,  Svo.,  pp.  316. 
Bogue's  Essay,  12mo.,  pp.  444. 
Scripture  Titles  of  Christ,  16mo.,  pp.  104. 
Earth's  Church  History,  12mo.,  pp.  408. 
Volume  of  Narrative  Tracts,  16mo.,  pp.  152. 
Essay  on  Fasts,  etc.,  12mo.,  pp.  220. 
Rites  and  Ceremonies,  12mo.,  pp.  192. 
Lives  of  Patriarchs  and  Prophets,  pp.  428. 

ARMENO-KOORDISH. 

TJiree  Titles. 
The  Four  Gospels,  12mo.,  pp.  398. 

GRJSCO-TURKISH. 

Two  Titles. 
The  Bible,  8vo.,  pp.  1128. 

HEBREW-SPANISH. 

Eleven  Titles. 

Hebrew  Grammar,  Svo.,  pp.  183. 
Hebrew  Lexicon,  8vo.,  pp.  400. 
Old  Testament,  4to.,  pp.  1498. 
Psalms,  pp.  258;  Hymns,  pp.  20. 

MODERN  GREEK. 

One  hundred  and  eighty-six  Titles— print- 
ed chiefly  at  Malta  and  Smyrna. 
Church  History,  12mo.,  pp.  354. 
Sermons  of  Dr.  Jonas  King,  preached  at 
Athens.   Athens,  1859,  sm.  Svo.  pp.  540. 
Miscellaneous  Works  of  Dr.  King.  Athens, 
1859,  sm.  8vo.,pp.  843. 

ITALIAN. 

Forty-eight  Titles— chiefly  at  Malta. 


LITERATURE   OP  THE  MISSIONS. 


BULGARIAN. 

Three  Titles. 

MODERN  SYRIAC. 

Forty-three  Titles. 
A  Collection  of  Hymns. 
Scripture  Question  Book. 
The  Pilgrim's  Progress. 
Arithmetics ;  Geography. 
The  Saints'  Everlasting  Rest. 
Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress. 
Earth's  Church  History. 
A  large  Scripture  History  and  Geography. 
A  System  of  Theology. 
The  Old  Testament,  with  references. 
The  New  Testament. 
Grammar  of  the  Modern  Syriac. 

ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  SYRIAC. 

Three  Titles. 

New  Testament,  the  Peshito  version,  with 
translation  into  Modern  Syriac,  hi  par- 
allel columns,  large  4to. 

Old  Testament,  the  Peshito,  with  translation 
in  parallel  columns,  large  4to.,  nearly 
1000  pages. 

MAHRATTA. 

One  hundred  and  eighty  Titles. 
Old  Testament,  pp.  942 ;  New  Test.,  pp.  268. 
History  of  our  Lord  and    Saviour  Jesus 

Christ,  12mo.,  pp.  30J. 
Child's  Book  on  the  Soul,  12mo.,  pp.  211. 
Arithmetic,  pp.  186  ;  Grammar,  pp.  110. 
Hymns,  18mo.,  pp.  148. 

GUJARATI. 

Thirty  Titles. 

HINDOSTANI. 

Four  Titles. 

SANSKRIT. 
Two  Titles. 

TAMIL. 
Three  hundred  and  seven  Titles — in  Ceylon 

and  at  Madras, 

Coming  to  Christ ;  The  True  Way.       i 
The  Accepted  Time ;  Bible  Doctrines. 
Scripture  History,  12mo.,  pp.  156. 
Rise  and  Progress,  12mo.,  pp.  169. 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  pp.  370. 
Instructor,  5  vols.,  18mo.,  pp.  455. 
Elementary  Arithmetic,  18mo.,  pp.  170. 
Geography  of  India,  12mo.,  pp.  206.  . 


Hymn  Book,  pp.  506. 
Tamil  Dictionary,  8vo.,  pp.  897. 
Anatomy,  by  Dr.  Greene,  pp.  149. 
Algebra,  by  D.  L.  Carroll,  pp.  252. 
Manual  of  Private  Devotion,  pp.  292. 
Earth's  Church  History,  18mo.,  pp.  656. 
Watts's  Scripture  History,  12mo.  pp.  458. 
Body  of  Divinity,  12mo.,  pp.  600. 
Rhenius's  Tamil  Grammar,  pp.  216. 
The  Bible  in  Tamil,  pp.  2158. 
New  Testament,  8vo.,  pp.  372. 
English  and  Tamil  Dictionary,  8vo.,  pp.  800. 
Old  Testament,  in  part,  ISmo.,  pp.  2580. 

TELUGU. 

Xiimber  exceeding  one  hundred — at  Madras. 
Generally  each  work  in  both  Tamil  and 
Telugu. 

CHINESE. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  Titles. 
A  Chrestomathy,  in  Canton  Dialect,  pp.  698. 
Easy  Lessons  in  Chinese,  8vo.,  pp.  287. 
An  English  and  Chinese  Vocabulary,  in  the 

Court  Dialect,  8vo.,  pp.  440. 
Tonic  Dictionary  of  the  Chinese  Language, 

in  the  Canton  Dialect,  Svo.,  pp.  832. 
Sermon  on  the  Mount ;  The  Four  Gospels. 
Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  Epistle  of  James. 
Genesis,  Chapter  1,  with  a  Commentary. 
New  Testament,  in  the  Fuhchau  Dialect. 
The   Chinese   Repository,  in   English,  20 

vols.    A  part  of  the  edition  destroyed 

by  fire  in  1857. 

JAPANESE. 

One  Title. 

BUGIS. 

Two  Titles. 

MALAY. 

Three  Titles. 

SIAMESE. 
Forty-four  Titles. 
Gospel  of  Mark ,  Gospel  of  John. 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  2  ed.,  Svo.,  pp.  75. 
The  Three  Epistles  of  John. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 
Genesis,  2  ed. ;  Life  of  Christ,  pp.  168. 
Geography,  pp.  118.  . 

Histories  of  the  United  States,  Great  Britain, 

France,  Spain,  and  Portugal. 
Old  Testament  History,  in  six  parts. 
Church  History,  8vo.,  pp.  158. 
Treatise  on  Midwifery,  12mo.,  pp.  156. 


444 


APPENDIX. 


ZULU. 

Thirteen  Titles. 

Book  of  Psalms  ;  Epis.tle  to  the  Romans. 
Gospels  of  Matthew  and  Mark. 
An  Arithmetic  and  Geography. 
A  Grammar,  8vo.,  pp.  432. 
A  Zulu-Kaffir  Dictionary,  Svo.,  pp.  459. 

MPONGWE. 

Twenty-one  Titles. 

Colloquial  Sentences  ;  Grammatical  Tables, 
Extracts  from  the  New  Testament,  pp.  84. 
Grammar,  with  Vocabulary,  Svo. 
Gospels  of  Matthew  and  John. 
Exodus,  Proverbs,  and  Acts. 


Seven  Titles. 
i 

GREBO. 

Forty-three  Titles. 
Gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark,  John,  12mo., 

pp.  159. 

Dictionary,  Grebo  and  English,  8vo.,  pp.  126. 
Grammar,  8vo.,  pp.  30. 

HAWAIIAN. 

Two  hundred  and  thirty-eight  Titles. 
Old  Testament,  2  vols.,  12mo.,  pp.  1031. 
New  Testament,  12mo.,  pp.  520. 
Child's  Arithmetic,  24mo.,  pp.  48. 
Linear  Drawing,  12mo.,  pp.  32. 
Astronomy,  12mo.,  pp.  12. 
Mathematics,  12mo.,  pp.  16. 
Surveying,  Svo.,  pp.  16. 
Algebra,  8vo.,  pp.  96. 
Logarithms,  Svo.,  pp.  16. 
Hymn  Book,  16mo.,  pp.  48. 
Moral  Philosophy,  12mo.,  pp.  48. 
Elements  of  History,  12mp.,  pp.  60. 
Scripture  Evidences,  12mo.,  pp.  120. 
Scripture  History,  12mo.,  pp.  282. 
Sacred  Geography,  12mo.,  pp.  88. 
History  of  Hawaii,  12mo.,  pp.  224. 
Hawaiian  Grammar,  8vo.,  pp.  156. 
Vocabulary,  pp.  96. 
Trigonometry,  8vo.,  pp.  16. 
Geography,  12mo.,  pp.  198. 
Colburn's  Arithmetic,  24mo.,  pp.  140. 
Leonard's  Arithmetic,  12mo.,  pp.  156. 
Political  Economy,  8vo.,  pp.  80. 
Church  Music,  8vo.,  pp.  148. 
Dying  Testimony  of  Christians  and  Infidels. 
Keith  on  the  Prophecies,  12mo.,  pp.  12. 
Natural  Theology,  12mo.,  pp.  178. 


Church  History,  12mo.,  pp.  349. 
Tract  for  Parents,  12mo.,  pp.  12. 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  18mo.,  pp.  432. 
Reading  Book  for  Schools,  pp.  340. 
Compend  of  Ancient  History,  pp.  76. 
Study  of  the  Globes,  16mo.,  pp.  40. 
Hawaiian  and  English  Dictionary,  pp.  40. 

CHEROKEE. 

Thirty-nine  Titles. 
Isaiah,  in  part,  24mo.,  pp.  32. 
Psalms  and  Proverbs,  in  part,  24mo.,  pp.  34. 
Genesis  and  Exodus,  in  part.  • 
New  Testament,  12mo. ;  Hymns,  pp.  51. 

CHOCTAW. 

Sixty-one  Titles. 
The  New  Testament,  1848. 
Joshua,  Judges,  Ruth,  1st  and  2d  Samuel, 

and  1st  and  2d  Kings. 
Memoir  of  Catherine  Brown. 
Choctaw  Reader ;  Choctaw  Hymns. 
The  World  to  Come. 

CREEK. 

Five  Titles. 

OSAGE. 

Two  Titles. 

OTTAWA. 

One  Title. 

OJIBWA. 

Fourteen  Titles. 
New  Testament ;  Hymns ;  Spelling  Book. 

DAKOTA. 

Fifteen  Titles. 

Grammar  and  Dictionary,  4to.,  pp.  338. 

Dakota  Scriptures  — Genesis,  part  of  Psalms, 
Gospels  of  Luke  and  John,  Acts,  Paul's 
Epistles,  and  Rev.,  2  vols.,  pp.  528. 

Hymns. 

ABENAQUIS. 
Two  Titles. 

SENECA. 
Not  fully  reported. 
Spelling  Book. 
Gospel  of  Luke. 
Hymns,  1852,  16mo.,  pp.  230. 


INDEX 


Act  of  Incorporation,  405. 

Africa,  Southern,  origin  of  mission  to,  240. 

Africa,  "Western,  instructions  to  first  mis- 
sionary to,  235-240. 

Agencies,  177-104  ;  cost  of,  109, 189, 190, 194 ; 
of  two  kinds,  177  ;  usefulness  of,  182 ; 
their  proper  sphere,  189. 

Agencies,  subordinate,  in  missions,  falling 
into  their  places,  247. 

Agents,  177 ;  pastors  as  such,  177 ;  mission- 
aries, 186 ;  general  agents,  188 ;  district 
secretaries,  188. 

Ahmednuggur  mission,  prosperity  of,  266. 

Aintab,  self-supporting  church  at,  262. 

Alleghanies,  first  meeting  beyond  the,  142. 

Allen,  David  O.,  D.  D.,  380. 

"  Alligator,"  and  her  India  voyage,  195. 

Alphabet,  Guess's  Cherokee,  340;  specimen 
of,  342  ;  Arabic,  343  ;  Syriac,  343. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions,  its  origin,  17,  41-65 ;  act 
of  incorporation,  405 ;  first  subscriptions 
to,  66 ;  object  of,  79  ;  growth,  78,  80,  82- 
85  ;  magnitude,  18 ;  results,  18, 19  ;  pol- 
icy, 21 ;  founded  on  a  principle  of  union, 

26,  89,  90  ;  national,  82 ;  free  from  secta- 
rian strife,  27  ;  its  missions  self-govern- 
ing, 27  ;  true  conception  of,  32 ;  may  be 
open  to  improvements,  33,  85,  87,  88 ; 
first  meeting,  62 ;  difficulties  in  obtain- 
ing its  charter,  71-78;  value  of  the  char- 
ter, 78  ;  constitution  and  membership, 

27,  79-87,  409 ;  relations  to  ecclesiastical 
bodies,  88-103;    founders,  82,'  104-125; 
meetings,  126-144  ;  Prudential  Commit- 
tee, and  places  for  transacting  the  busi- 
ness, 145-150 ;  correspondence,  library, 
and  cabinet,  151-157 ;  finances,  158-176  ; 
agencies,  177-19-1 ;  relations  to  govern- 
ments, 195-205  ;  deceased  Secretaries  of, 
206-221 ;  for  whom  it  acts,  70 ;  corporate 
members,  85,  407 ;  corresponding  mem- 
bers, 83 ;   honorary  members,  83,  84 ; 
attendance  at  meetings,  86  ;  relations  of 
t|\e  Board,  88,  99  ;  its  responsibility,  88  ; 
not  an  ecclesiastical  body,  100 ;  has  no 
ecclesiastical  powers,  100 ;  not  a  volun- 


tary association,  101 ;  its  practical  work- 
ing, 87,  102. 

American  Missionary  Association,  20. 

Anderson,  Rev.  Rufus,  126, 148, 353, 361, 379. 

Andover  Theological  Seminary,  its  influence 
on  missions,  44. 

Annual  Meeting  of  the  Board,  spontaneous 
vote  of,  6, 137 ;  pledges  at,  137, 138. 

Annual  Report,  171, 190. 

Apostolical  churches,  difficulties  in,  248; 
piety  of,  249. 

Appleton,  Jesse,  D.  D.,  110. 

Appropriations  and  estimates,  origin  of, 
168. 

Arabic  letters,  343,  376;  versions  of  the 
Scriptures,  376. 

Armenian  type,  Modern,  377. 

Armstrong,  Hon.  Samuel  T.,  128, 131. 

Armstrong,  "William  Jessup,  D.  D.,  218. 

Asia,  its  religious  destitution  described  by 
Gordon  Hall,  227. 

Associations  and  Auxiliaries,  extensive  or- 
ganization of,  183-185  ;  cause  of  decline 
of,  186. 

Bacon,  Leonard,  D.  D.,  383,  394. 

Bailey,  Rev.  Kiah,  44. 

Baird,  Robert,  D.  D.,  visit  to  Holland,  202 ; 

interview  with  Louis  Philippe,  203. 
Benevolent  giving,  laws  of,  179. 
Benson,  Egbert,  LL.  D.,  120. 
Bible,  to  be  given  to  the  people,  243,  240. 
Bingham,  Rev.  Hiram,  380. 
Biography  of  missionaries,  435. 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  Reformed 

Protestant  Dutch  Church,  20,  92. 
Book-making,  when  unduly  prominent,  247. 
Boudinot,  Elias,  LL.  D.,  117. 
Breath,  Edward,  343. 
Brookfield  Auxiliary,  178 ;  use  made  of  its 

reports,  179. 
Brusa  and  the  native  church,  263. 

Cabinet  at  Missionary  House,  157. 
Capodistrias,  Count,  President  of  Greece, 

353. 
Caste,  296. 


446 


INDEX. 


Catechist  described,  225. 

Centralizing  policy,  effect  on  village  sta- 
tions, 265 ;  when  it  should  be  changed, 
2C5 ;  striking  effect  of  a  change,  266. 

Chapin,  Calvin,  D.  D.,  115,  128,  139. 

Chavagacherry  and  native  church,  264. 

•Cherokee  alphabet,  342. 

Children  of  missionaries,  returned,  278. 

China,  origin  of  missions  to,  240. 

Christianized  communities,  253-264. 

Churches,  281-303 ;  relation  of  missionaries 
to  native  churches,  281-285 ;  tabular  view 
of,  303. 

Collector,  a  model,  185. 

Communities  Christianized,  253-264. 

Conference  at  Liverpool,  363,  393. 

Contrasts  in  nature  and  Christianity,  13. 

Copying  letters,  153. 

Cornelius,  Elias,  D.  D.,  128, 178,  213-216. 

Cornwall,  Foreign  Missionary  School  at, 
329. 

Correspondence,  earlier  and  later,  151 ;  free- 
dom of,  153. 

Corresponding  Secretaries,  number  and  du- 
ties of,  154. 

Crowniushield,  B.  W.,  74,  76. 

Dana,  Richard  H.,  393. 
Davis,  Henry,  D.  D.,  109. 
Day  Spring,  190, 193. 

Debt,  liberation  from,  5;  discussion  con- 
cerning, 5. 

Deputations  to  the  missions,  346-368,  382. 
Deputations  to  auxiliary  meetings,  187. 
District  secretaries,  188. 
Donations,  as  the  result  of  church  action,  90. 
Dwight,  Dr.  H.  G.  O.,  233,  263,  379. 
Dwight,  Rev.  Sereno  E.,  298. 
Dwight,  Timothy,  D.  D.,  58,  63, 105. 

East  India  Company,  tolerance  of,  196. 

Education,  the  Board  preeminently  con- 
cerned in,  327. 

Edwards,  Justin,  D.  D.,  128, 137. 

English  admiral  in  the  war  with  England, 
195. 

English  friends  of  the  Board,  196. 

English  language,  use  of,  in  schools,  323. 

Epoch,  a  new,  anticipated,  36  ;  signs  of  its 
approach,  37. 

Estimates  and  appropriations,  origin  of, 
168  ;  a  new  arrangement,  169,  433. 

Eutujian,  Rev.  K.  H.  S.,  287. 

Evarts,  Jeremiah,  52,  75,  124,  210,  347,  348. 

Exigency,  worth  of  an,  159. 

Expenditures  of  the  Board,  163. 

Exploring  tours,  379,  437. 

Faith,  its  place  in  missions,  23,  29 ;  influence 
on  missionary  confidence,  164. 


Ferris,  Isaac,  D.  D.,  4 ;  his  visit  to  Holland, 

202. 
Field  and  work,  at  the  close  of  half-century, 

^83-401. 

Finances  of  the  Board,  158-176. 
First  missionaries,  ordination  of,  46. 
Fische,  pastor,  from  Paris,  4. 
Fisher,  Samuel  W.,  D.  D.,  3. 
Fisk,  Rev.  Pliny,  229,  353. 
Foreign  missions,  origin  of,  17. 
Foreman,  Rev.  Stephen,  a  Cherokee,  302. 
Frelinghuysen,  Theodore,  LL.  D.,  144. 
Funds,  difficulty  in  obtaining,  158. 

General  agents,  188. 

General  Assembly  of  Presbyterian  Church 
declines  forming  a  Foreign  Missionary 
Board,  19,  81 ;  commends  the  Board  to 
its  churches,  81,  91,  92 ;  Old  School  As- 
sembly forms  a  new  Board,  99. 

General  Association  of  Connecticut,  89. 

General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  51, 89. 

General  Synod  of  Reformed  Protestant 
Dutch  Church,  arrangement  with,  92- 
% ;  dissolved,  96-98. 

Geography,  progress  in  knowledge  of,  387. 

God's  people,  addressed  now,  as  never  be- 
fore, 401. 

Government  of  United  States,  relations  of 
missionaries  to,  197-202. 

Governments,  relations  to,  195;  acts  of 
kindness,  204  ;  duty  of  praying  for,  205. 

Greek  mind,  singular  state  of,  355. 

Green,  Ashbel,  D.  D.,  106. 

Greene,  Rev.  David,  speech  of,  133 ;  letter 
from,  140;  visit  to  Indian  missions, 
350. 

Hall,  Gordon,  42,  43,  45  ;  letters  from,  45. 

Hawes,  Joel,  D.  D.,  354. 

Haystack,  prayer  under  the,  17. 

Hill,  Henry,  Esq.,  letter  from,  143. 

Historical  catalogue  of  the  missions,  268. 

Historical  works  by  missionaries,  380,  437. 

History  of  the  Board,  381. 

Hooker,  Hon.  John,  75, 123. 

Hopkins,  Mark,  D.  D.,  Historical  Discourse 

of,  4, 12-38. 
House  of  Representatives,  their  stand  for 

the  Board,  76. 

Hubbard,  Hon.  Samuel,  128, 131. 
Huntington,  Gen.  Jedidiah,  118. 
Huss,  Rev.  John,  a  Cherokee,  302. 

Incorporation  of  the  Board,  how  extensive- 
ly recognized,  78. 

Indebtedness,  175  ;  responsibility  for  it,  176. 

Instructions  to  missionaries,  extracts  from, 
229,  234,  235. 

Investments,  173. 


INDEX. 


447 


Jay,  John,  LL.  D.,  119. 
Jones,  Hon.  William,  82, 122. 
Journal  of  Missions,  190, 194. 
Jubilee  Meeting,  account  of,  3-9;  resolu- 
tions at,  C-8  ;  interesting  scene,  6. 
Judson,  Adoniram,  D.  D.,  41-43,45, 50,52,59. 
Judson,  Mrs.  Ann  H.,  49,  54. 

Keep,  Rev.  John,  his  reminiscences,  51-55. 
King,  Jonas,  D.  D.,  353,  355. 

Langdon,  John,  LL.  D.,  116. 

Languages  reduced  to  writing,  339 ;  number 

employed,  343. 

Laws  of  benevolent  giving,  179-182. 
Letter-books,  152. 
Library  of  the  Board,  155. 
Literature  of  the  Board  and  its  missions, 

309-382,  435. 
Lyman,  Joseph,  D.  D.,  112. 

Mahratta  mission,  origin  of,  227. 

Manuscript  volumes  at  the  Missionary 
House,  152. 

Marash,  great  power  of  the  gospel  at,  263. 

Mason,  Dr.  Lowell,  354. 

Meigs,  Rev.  Benjamin  C.,  295. 

Memoirs,  378,  435. 

Micronesian  mission,  origin  of,  235. 

Miller,  Samuel,  D.  D.,  108. 

Mills,  Samuel  J.,  17,  41,  42. 

Missionaries,  ecclesiastically  free,  27. 

Missionaries,  270-280;  described,  30,  31,  270; 
principle  underlying  their  engagement, 
270;  make  the  first  advance,  29,  270; 
their  appointment,  designation,  and  sup- 
port, 271 ;  prerequisites,  31,  271 ;  ordi- 
nation and  marriage,  272 ;  number  sent 
forth,  273  ;  where  educated  in  theology, 
274  ;  length  of  service,  274 ;  providential 
care  of,  275 ;  as  physicians,  unmarried 
females,  farmers,, mechanics,  276;  sup- 
port of,  277  ;  when  disabled  or  superan- 
nuated, 277 ;  their  returned  children, 
278  ;  portraits  of,  157 ;  as  agents,  186 ; 
claims  of  as  American  citizens,  198. 

Missionary  Biography,  435. 

Missionary  enterprise,  pecuniary  valuation 
of  the,  398. 

Missionary  expenditure,  current  impression 
concerning,  5. 

Missionary  experience,  works  descriptive 
of,  382. 

Missionary  Herald,  179, 190, 193,  372. 

Missionary  Histories,  reference  to,  50. 

Missionary  House,  its  cost  and  advantages, 
149. 

Missionary  organizations,  extent  of,  and 
Protestant  and  Papal  forms  of,  389. 

Missionary  Sermons,  190,  438. 


Missionary  societies,  a  limit  to  the  ability 
of,  250. 

Missionary  spirit  promotive  of  union,  24. 

Missionary  tracts,  373  ;  number  published, 
190 ;  list  of,  191,  441. 

Mission  churches,  27 ;  allowance  for  failings 
in,  249 ;  hard  to  reach  the  self-sustain- 
ing point,  250. 

Missions,  acknowledged  as  a  duty,  388 ;  their 
power  in  the  cross,  28  ;  success  of,  29, 
390-397;  cost  of,  164;  object  of,  242; 
constitution  of,  225;  natives  not  mem- 
bers of,  226 ;  territorial  extent  of,  226 ; 
conformed  to  the  habits  of  the  Ameri- 
can people,  226 ;  responsibilities  of,  227  ; 
origin  of  the,  227-241 ;  compact  of  mem- 
bers of,  234 ;  development  of,  242 ;  laws 
of  growth,  244 ;  how  the  work  may  be 
completed,  247 ;  difficulties  to  be  sur- 
mounted, 247;  necessarily  progressive, 
244;  an  unsettled  problem,  247;  too 
much  required  of,  250 ;  may  grow  and 
yet  not  increase  their  cost  to  the  Socie- 
ty, 251 ;  when  their  work  is  completed, 
251;  historical  catalogue  of,  268;  in 
Western  Asia,  229-233,  262,  394,  396;  in 
Africa,  235-240,  391 ;  in  India,  264,  266, 
391,  397;  in  Eastern  Asia,  240;  in  Isl- 
ands of  the  Pacific,  234,  253,  393 ;  among 
North  American  Indians,  257;  success 
of,  390  ;  their  reactionary  influence,  76 ; 
pecuniary  value,  398. 

Modern  Syriac  version  of  Scriptures,  377. 

Morris,  Hon.  Oliver  B.,  letter  from,  73. 

Morrison,  ship,  free  for  missionaries,  240 ; 
voyage  to  Japan,  240. 

Morse,  Jedediah,  D.  D.,  72, 113,  298. 

Morton,  Hon.  Marcus,  77. 

Mullens,  Joseph,  D.  D.,  362,  390. 

Native  agency,  should  have  room  to  grow, 
250. 

Native  church,  value  of,  226 ;  should  be  ho- 
mogeneous with  the  people,  226;  rela- 
tions of  missionaries  to,  225. 

Native  pastors,  262-264. 

Native  preachers  of  the  first  generation,  267. 

Nepean,  Sir  Evan,  appeal  to,  106. 

Nestorian  missions,  extent  of  ancient,  397. 

Nestorians,  origin  of  mission  to,  233. 

Newell,  Samuel,  41,  42. 

Newell,  Mrs.  Harriet,  49,  54. 

Norton,  L.  M.,  a  model  collector,  185. 

Nott,  Rev.  Samuel,  41, 42 ;  letter  from,  55-61. 

Oahu  College,  328. 
Olyphant,  D.  W.  C.,  240. 
Ordination,  the  first  missionary,  47. 
Organization,  extensive  systematic,  183. 
Outstations,  meaning  of,  225. 


462 


INDEX. 


Panoplist,  The,  191. 

Parker,  Rev.  Samuel,  379. 

Parsons,  Kev.  Levi,  229. 

Pastors  as  agents,  177. 

Payson,  Seth,  D.  D.,  113. 

Pera,  self-supporting  church  at,  262. 

Periodicals,  190,  370. 

Perkins,  Justin,  D.  D.,  380. 

Permanent  Funds,  173. 

Petition  for  charter,  7,'. 

Philadelphia,remarkable  meeting  in,  129-138. 

Phillips,  Hon.  William,  75,  121. 

Political  ascendency  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tendom, 388. 

Polygamy,  297. 

Porter,  Noah,  T>.  D.,  letter  from,  02-65. 

Portraits  of  missionaries,  collection  of,  157. 

Postage  of  the  Board,  151,  171. 

Preaching,  333-339;  the  leading  agency  in 
missions,  243,  2-16 ;  its  relation  to  faith, 
24. 

Preaching  houses,  338. 

Prentiss,  Dr.  Nathaniel,  73. 

Press,  190-194,  339-345. 

Prune,  S.  Irenaeus,  D.  D.,  129. 

Fruiting,  amount  of,  190,  344. 

Printing  establishments,  list  of,  341. 

Prudential  Committee,  members  and  meet- 
ings, 145 ;  constitution  of  the  body,  at- 
tendance of  executive  officers,  and  man- 
ner of  doing  business,  146;  places  for 
transacting  the  business,  148 ;  duty  and 
powers  of,  167 ;  early  misgivings  of,  48. 

Ralston,  Robert,  Esq.,  46, 123. 

Receipts  of  the  Board,  160-162. 

Reed,  Hon.  William,  128, 146. 

Remedial  influences  for  the  world,  now  the 

time  for  their  application,  400. 
Remittances,  172. 
Reports  of  the  Board,  190,  372. 
Resolutions,  historical,  6. 
Rice,  Rev.  Luther,  19,  42,  47. 
Richards,  James,  D.  D.,  107. 
Richards,  Rev.  James,  42. 
Robinson,  Edward,  D.  D.,  380. 

Salaries  of  officers,  171. 

Sandwich  Islands,  instructions  to  first  mis- 
sionaries, 234 ;  Christianized,  253-257. 

School  books,  374,  441. 

Schools,  common,  304-310 ;  higher,  310-327  ; 
for  foreign  youth  at  Cornwall,  329 ; 
place  in  missions,  244. 

Scriptures,  versions  of,  375;  helps  for  un- 
derstanding- the,  377 ;  distribution  of,  397. 

Secretaries,  deceased,  notices  of,  206-221. 


Sermons,  missionary,  190, 370, 438. 

Sewall,  General  Henry,  122. 

Smith,  Eli,  D.  D.,  233,  343,  353,  379,  380. 

Smith,  John  Cotton,  LL.  D.,  127. 

Social  and  religious  condition  of  mankind, 

progress  in  knowledge  of,  388. 
Society  of  The  Brethren,  17,  41. 
Special  committee  on  India  deputation,  366. 
Spring,  Samuel,  D.  D.,  43-15,  52,  75,  111. 
Station,  what  is  a,  225. 
Stations,  nature  of,  225 ;  what  is  implied  in 

Christianizing  them,  262,  264. 
Syriac  alphabet,  343. 

Tamil  missions,  origin  of,  228. 
Taylor,  Rev.  H.  S.,  293. 
Thompson,  Rev.  Augustus  C.,  361. 
Thomson,  William  M.,  D.  D.,  380. 
Traveling  expenses  of  agents,  170. 
Travels,  missionary,  437. 
Treadwell,  John,  LL.  D.,  118. 
Treat,  Rev.  Selah  B.,  visit  of  to  Indian  mis- 
sions, 357. 
Trebizond  and  the  native  church.  263. 

Union  to  be  the  ultimate  condition  of  the 
Church,  26. 

United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  amalga- 
mated with  the  Board,  90. 

Van  Rensselaer,  Stephen,  LL.  D.,  127. 
Votes  by  Yea  and  Xay,  140. 

Walworth,  Reuben  H.,  LL.D.,  137. 

AVarren,  Rev.  Dr.,  Secretary  of  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Union,  4. 

.Webster,  Hon.  Daniel,  dispatch  of,  201. 

Western  Asia,  first  mission  to,  229;  in- 
structions to  first  missionaries,  229-232 ; 
missions  to,  233. 

Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society  adopt- 
ed by  Old  School  General  Assembly,  99. 

White,  Hon.  D.  A.,  his  reply  to  Crownin- 
shield,  76. 

Wilson,  John  Leighton,  D.  D.,  380. 

Wisner,  Benjamin  Blydeuburg,  D.  D.,  128, 
216-218. 

Wood,  Rev.  George  W.,  visit  to  Indian  mis- 
sions, 361. 

Woods,  Leonard,  D.  D.,  128, 146. 

Worcester,  Samuel,  D.  D.,  44,  49,  52,  63,  67, 
72,  115, 200,  229, 298,  347. 

Worcester,  S.  M.,  D.  D.,  address  of,  65-70. 

World,  fifty  years  ago,  383,  390 ;  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  387. 

\"ale,  Elisha,  D.  D.,  130. 


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